It sure is. And good afternoon, Dr. Fiona Giblin. How are you, Amanda? I'm great, thank you. Nice to see you both. Keeping out of the chilly weather out there. I'm trying. I'm doing my very, very best. It's not too bad today, considering. Just cold, but yeah, at least it's nice and sunny. Absolutely. And we're going to talk about grooming today. Yeah, I thought we should mention that today. So we'll talk about brushing and combing of our pets. Often when we get a puppy, we don't sort of think about wringing out the brush or the comb because we're so busy cuddling and loving them and getting to know them. But my advice is when you get a puppy, the week it comes home, you start brushing so that we get used to the dog having its grooming. And that way, the dog will end...
up really enjoying having its brushing and combing but one of the things I often find with new pet owners particularly with puppies is that when you bring a brush out they tend to not like it and as you start brushing particularly around the back of the legs and around the tail and bottom area Puppies get pretty fidgety and sometimes they'll turn around and they'll start biting whoever's trying to brush. And usually what happens with this, the puppy gets good control over the owner or the person brushing and by biting that hand, the owner stops. And if you do that, it actually conditions the dog to be going to say to the owner each time, okay, you brush me there, I'll bite you, you'll stop. So you have to be perseverant and keep brushing. I always say brush your puppy when it's tired and just do a little segment at a time. So you might just do it along the side or along the back, just a partial groom, not a whole brush out. And that way the puppy will tolerate it a lot better. But there's two things that most...
of us use when we're brushing. One is a slicker brush and the other is a comb. My recommendation for combing a puppy is not to buy a rigid comb. So not a comb like we'd use ourselves. It's rigid. We need to get a rotating tooth comb. And the advantages of these rotating tooth combs is that the pins of the comb go up and down and the tops are polished so they don't scrape the skin and cause irritation to the skin. And the pins also, they rotate and go up and down. So there's movement in that comb. It's not rigid. And when you comb through the dog, there's give. So it's not sort of like pulling on the coat. So if you hit, you know, on their elbow, if you hit a snarl or some hair that's tangled, it actually will bounce a bit so that that's not hurting the puppy. So there's no pull.
So they're a really good first choice. I mean, they're not the comb that a professional groomer would use, but for homeowners, they're a really good, useful tool at home to keep your puppy or your dog sort of pretty tangle-free. So that's the rotating tooth comb. There's many sizes available, but they're a really good option for using to do that. Okay. And we've got Elaine from Ellie Barner on the line. Hey, Elaine, how can we help? I have a Pekingese dog. She's about eight or nine years old. Yeah. I had reason to take her to the local vet because she had a skin irritation. Okay. While I was there, this vet pointed out that she had...
a spot on each eye and it was caused by the hair rubbing. Oh, yes, yes. And said she had to have the folds under her eyes removed, operated on and removed. Okay, yes. I was a little bit shocked at that and I rang the breeder and he's had many a pig and ease in his time. He said no. Okay. It's not necessary. Just get some scissors and trim under there. Now, I just wanted a second opinion about that. Awesome. Well, firstly, Elaine, thanks for seeking a second opinion because, you know, obviously big operation for the dog and something that we need to make sure.
if it's the right thing to do, that you proceed knowing why you're doing it. So often Pekingese and shorter-faced breeds do have a bit of an extra skin fold between their nose and their eyes. And what can happen with that skin fold, and it sounds like it's happened in your dog, is the hair grows from that, the coat grows from that, just like normal skin. But because that skin fold is so close to the eye and because the hair can grow in the direction of the eye, it's constantly rubbing and irritating the surface of the eye. because of the position of that hair growth. So what it sounds like you're describing is she's then got chronic changes to her cornea, which is the surface of the eye, causing this black pigment. And the reason that that black pigment is formed is from constant chronic irritation from the hair. Certainly, surgical excision probably is the only long-term set-and-forget fix. But if you do have the capacity to keep that hair very short, you may be able to manage it without the surgery. But the trick with that is, Elaine,
is the hair that you're then cutting might actually be harsher and spikier and may actually irritate the cornea more so. Right. Okay. So I think you probably need to revisit it with your vet and just say, okay, well, I'd like to try something else before we jump straight to surgery and just get a feel for whether they think eye drops are necessary or obviously I can't see her so I don't know how bad it is. But we don't elect to do surgery on our patients unless we think it's in their interest to do so.
I ordered a name. It started with P, but I can't remember. The eye condition? Yeah. It was probably pigmentary keratitis. Right, yeah. Which is a fancy word for saying chronic irritation to the cornea. Right, okay. Yeah, Cheryl. Elaine, there is another thing. Whilst you do go and have another chat with your vet, if you've got a particularly good groomer, instead of using scissors like you said earlier, a groomer would be able to shave that very close and keep that hair really at a minimal amount so it's not necessarily touching and irritating the eye so much while you're waiting to have your surgery done.
Yes. Okay. I'll follow that up then. Yeah. So see how you go. If she needs eye drops, obviously make sure that you're addressing that. And yeah, maybe just have a chat to the vet who suggested the surgery and just ask their opinion on whether any of these other options are relevant for your particular dog.
Okay. Thanks for your call, Elaine. Okay. All the best. Margaret from Australia. Hi, Margaret. Yes, I just recently broke my leg and I've spent four weeks away in hospital and rehab. Yeah. I came home Friday and the two dogs, they would spin in circles and go on crazy. Yes. But the cats sort of stood back for maybe 12 hours or so and just ended up they'd walk up and sniff my hand. Okay. Now, I just want to know what...
what do those animals go through? Like my daughter was coming and feeding them and doing the cat trays and all that kind of thing. What emotionally goes through those animals when this happens to them? Yeah, Margaret, I think what you've described pretty much sums up cats and dogs in a nutshell. Dogs are, you know, happy to see their owners and so excited that you're home and want pats and cuddles and so happy to see you, whereas cats are more aloof.
So they take a bit longer to adjust to changes and you definitely would have some very unusual smells on you that they wouldn't be used to. And even though I'm sure they love you and are used to you, if you were away for that length of time, there was a component of a different routine, I guess, for the cats that they were then used to. So it sounds like they're very lucky to have your daughter look after them, and I'm sure it won't take long for them to settle back in. I've got two dogs, two cats. I'm back in because it's so cold. Yes. Yeah, they're just four of them on the bed. The cats are fine now. Excellent. I'm mentally wondering what they go to. How much do they suffer when the owners have to go away? Well, they would have experienced a level of stress with you not being there, Margaret. Are they used to your daughter? Do they know her well? Oh, yeah, and the kids. She's got some kids. They were coming in now two or three times a day.
Excellent. Okay, we're very lucky for them to have that and have some familiar people. One cat, I've got a ragdoll, her owner got sick and I took this cat. Yeah. For the whole four weeks I was away, when Sally and the kids came in the house, she'd get under a cupboard or under a bed. Yeah.
or they might have seen her sneak under. She didn't even come out to them for a whole month. Yeah, and obviously she's one of those cats that is a little bit more standoffish and maybe not so keen on new people, but I'm sure they're all very happy to have you back, Margaret, and I'm sure they'll be back on the bed by the sounds of it, enjoying your company again. Thank you very much. No problem. Thanks for the call. Dr Fiona, we're going to talk about lepto. Yes, so leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that our dogs can get. It has been on social media a bit in the last couple of weeks within Newcastle because we have actually had two dogs.
being diagnosed with leptospirosis. So it's not a commonly diagnosed disease. The reason it's so important is often it's fatal. If our dogs get diagnosed, they often end up being euthanized because the prognosis is terrible. The other factor to consider is that leptospirosis is contagious to people. So our pet owners are at risk as well if your pet dog happens to get leptospirosis. What are the symptoms? Leptospirosis symptoms are really, really nonspecific.
So lethargy, off their food, abdominal pain, vomiting are really, really non-specific, which is why as a vet, it's really tricky to diagnose because if a dog comes in lethargic, well, it could be one of a thousand different things. So lepto is certainly in the forefront of our minds at the moment with our pets. But your two main risk factors for your dogs getting leptospirosis is contact with rats and rat urine and puddles of water. Now, Newcastle is just one big soggy mess at the moment, so lots of stagnant water around. You combine that with if you've got rats in your backyard or you live in a highly populated area and you know that there are rats in your environment, they're your two risk factors. So we would definitely be encouraging clients and pet owners to call your local vet because the good news is there is a vaccine for it to protect against it.
We've always had a vaccine available to us that protects one strain of leptospirosis. But in the last six months, there's been a new vaccine that now protects against two strains of leptospirosis. So perfect for our pet owners. You know, the more we can protect our pets, the better. So I would definitely encourage people to call up your local vet. Either A, check if you are already protected, if your pets are already protected against leptospirosis. And B, if they're not booking for a vaccination. Okay, any dog that hasn't been vaccinated will need a booster around four weeks later to make sure they're fully protected. And then it's just once a year.
So, yeah, definitely give your local vet a call if you have any further questions. But rats and stagnant water are your two risk factors, and we have had a couple of cases in Newcastle in the last week or so. And we're going to look at the pet of the week at the moment, pets of the week. We've got a little cat called Sally. Yeah, little three and a half year old Sally. She's a tortoiseshell colour, but I'm actually quite taken by her markings. She's got one leg at the front, her right leg that's ginger and white striped. Then she's got one black leg and then she's got two white legs. So I'm actually quite taken by her colour. I like her nose. Yes, she's very cute. So yeah, three and a half years old, still young enough to have some fun, but certainly grown out of her kitten stage. So she sounds like she likes to play, but also likes to snuggle on your laps. Happy with toys and will talk to you occasionally, confident and affectionate. So she sounds like a pretty good mix. She's a little chubby and a lover of her food. We're not going to fat shame her.
She doesn't look too tall. No, no. And look, I think in the right home, that's something that can easily be changed. So she hasn't been tested with dogs and children, but the suspicion is that she would be okay. So she sounds like a good fit for your family. Details are on the website. Yep. And next we've got Scooby. Scooby-Doo. Scooby-Doo-Doo. Two-year-old American Bulldog. Big dog. Full of energy. Full of love. Food lover. Lover of walks. Probably happy to play for hours on end with some big kids in the backyard. Young enough to still be.
you know, easily trainable, that sort of thing, but does have a couple of things to just, you know, maybe he won't be a great fit for you, just needs a bit of work with walking and some anxiety issues and doesn't like the car or other dogs. It's said on the other website too that the carers thought he might be good for someone that goes to the gym. Because someone's strong that can, you know, walk him and, you know. Oh, okay, yeah. Don't send him with a 10-year-old walking around the block. No, he's pretty good, but if he does see something that he wants to take a look at, you know. And that's fair enough, I think. Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, check the website out. He's a pretty cute-looking dog. He is. And he might be a great fit for your family. That's right. So just go to nurfm.com.au and click on our lifestyle programs and you'll find it as part of Pet Chat. Now, we've got Ron from Singleton on the line. Ron, you've got a question.
Yeah, I hope you don't mind me asking this one. It's a little bit off topic. I'll see if I can help you, Ron. Yeah, yeah. A bit like Homer Simpson with these hippopotamus oaths for doctors and things. Okay. Should they maintain something like that, a code of ethics and that sort of thing? I'm asking that because we had two 16-year-old Maltese. They were sisters. We lost both of them last year. And with the last one, she became very ill at the turn of the hat. And I found out we had the wrong dosage information for the medication. And she'd actually overdosed. Anyway, I rang the vets. I took her down initially, brought her home again. My wife came home. We had some time with her.
And I just rang the vets back and said, oh, look, no, we can't leave any longer. She needs to go to sleep. Okay. And can you come up and do her? Put a sleep for us, please, you know? And the vet said, no, sorry, we don't do that. You have to bring her in. Okay. They're five minutes away from me. Okay. And I only say that because Bella was terrified of the vets. She'd never had a night in the hospital, but her sister had several occasions or several weeks in the hospital over time. And I said, I don't want to take her down. She's terrified of the vets, let alone in the state she's in there. I just didn't want to put that stress on her, you know? Okay, yep. And they said, oh, sorry, no, we just don't do that. It's 16 years they've been caring for our pets. Okay. I rang downtown vets.
And I was doing their books from our first maltese and they said, we'll be up in the legal office as soon as possible, please. And they were up in 15 minutes. Yeah. Okay. Well, Ron, I'm sorry to hear about, you know, the loss of your precious dogs, I guess. From a veterinary point of view, I guess I'd make a couple of points. We definitely have significant legal and ethical guidelines that bind us. There's the Veterinary Surgeons Board within New South Wales. I can only speak on New South Wales that we have to, you know, annually put in, you know, an annual return and are guided and bound by their rules and regulations.
From a business point of view though, I guess home visits are not something we are legally obliged to perform. Lots of clinics do, okay? But the fact that a couple of things I guess you have to consider from their point of view is they might not be staffed that day. in order to allow a home visit at that point in time. We will usually be booked quite solidly as the clinic and as staff to allow for that work within the clinic. And it often takes a vet and a nurse out of the building for around an hour to do a home visit euthanasia. And there just often isn't necessarily the time for that to occur straight away. But any clinic will go above and beyond to try and accommodate you as best as possible. And I'm sorry that when you needed that home visit euthanasia, one of the clinics wasn't able to do it for you.
Yeah, I understand that and I appreciate it from a business point of view. It's just very disappointing, you know, like having dealt personally with people for 16 years and when the time came, it really mattered. As I say, we were five minutes from the door front. Yeah, Ron, I'm really, I'm sorry that you had to go through that and I'm sure as feedback for that local clinic, I'm sure you could give that to them and they could take it on board for you. Thanks for your call, Ron. We really appreciate it. Sorry for the loss of your dog. Next on the line, we have Steve from Cessnock. How can we help, Steve? Good afternoon. How are you? Well, Steve, how are you? I'm good, thank you. How can we help? My wife adopted.
Her boss's ragdoll cat about 18 months ago, she passed away. Okay. It's over a nine-year-old. Okay. Beautiful cat. It fits into the house really well. Excellent. We've noticed now that it seems to have taken a rule like he's in my life. Okay. We can't go anywhere without following her. Okay. We don't live out the back of the house. Of course, we've got things there. We don't jump up and break or whatever. Okay. But he meows constantly and he's really loud. And we've got cameras in the house when we go to work. And when he wakes up and goes for a wonder, he can't find us. He just walks around the house, meowing on the top of his voice. Okay. And has he always been like that, Steve, since you got in? No, the first couple of months we had him in Holland. Okay. So he's only been probably without him for a while.
Probably close to 12 months, I suppose. Okay. And it's only been the last three or four months. Okay. Has anything else changed that you can think of, Steve? No, nothing at all. It seems what I have noticed in him, it's like he's fallen in love with my wife. Yeah, okay. It's like that's his girlfriend. And if he can't find her, he just walks around. And he's very, very loud. Yeah, okay. You can hear him out the backyard. He's that loud. Yeah. Look, I agree with you. It sounds like the cat's sort of almost bonded to your wife. And it might be he's actually going through a bit of separation anxiety. He's quite friendly with me too. He'll come up to me. He thinks he's a dog, I think. He calls him and comes to you.
Oh, very good. So if your home, Steve, and your wife isn't home, will he meow a lot? No, not really, no. He'll meow when he wants something to eat, I suppose, but definitely when my wife's not there, he's meowed too constantly. When she goes out in the kitchen to get a drink or anything like that, he's at the door meowing, and, you know, at six o'clock he wants to go to bed, so he starts meowing until she gets up and goes to bed. Yeah, okay. Is it concerning you, like, from a sort of welfare point of view? Oh, I don't think so, but I don't know. We've never owned a cat before. Yeah, okay, okay. I'm just hoping he's not getting depressed or something like that, or if there's something we can buy for him to help him keep him.
Yeah, okay. Yeah, look, a couple of suggestions I've got, Steve, definitely. There are some really great pheromone products for cats that you can plug into a PowerPoint and they're sort of set and forget. People can't smell them, but cats really love them. They contain a pheromone to help them relax and decrease their stress levels. So that would be something pretty easy and sort of non-low effort for you to try. The other thing potentially, if he's up for it, is trying some of the, you know, sort of battery-powered toys, you know, food toys, little mice that you can get.
you know, suddenly start moving and provide a food, you know, food things that they can eat and chase and be motivated by, but also some toys and just some distraction as well, I think. Yeah, he's got some toys there, but he both of them were there. Yeah, yeah. My wife just was not in the room. Yeah, I agree with you. It sounds like the cat's quite bonded to your wife, whether you need medication or whether you can get by with some other products.
I'd try the toys with a treat. Might be a good idea. Yeah, look, it's a pretty easy thing to try. And if you do find yourself at the vets because it's not improving or you're worried it's getting worse or you're worried from a quality of life point of view that he might be distressed, see if you can take some videos because that will be helpful for the vet to determine a bit more about what's going on. Yes, definitely. Fantastic. Thanks for the call, Steve. See you later. This was Pet Chat on 2NURFM. We've got Marie from Elmervale on the phone. And, Marie, we're going to have to be fairly quick, but you said your cat won't use new litter. Yeah, we've got the soy-based one. Yeah. Yeah, we've been using the crystals. Okay.
And then the soy-based one's perhaps to be better for the environment, but she won't use it. Have you got any advice? It sounds like you're dealing with a cat rather than a dog, Marie. No, no, no, sorry, I'm being facetious. Cats do develop quite ingrained habits, definitely. Probably an easy thing to do if you're keen on using the new litter is just gradually introduce it, okay? So use sort of 90% your old litter, 10% your new litter, and over the course of a few weeks you can try and transition over to the new litter, and that's kind of giving the cat a bit of a chance to accept it in a slow and minimally stressed way. That would be my suggestion to try and introduce the new one other than that.
I guess your options are returning to the old litter, but I understand from an environment point of view, we always, you know, we do what we can. So it might be worth persisting just trying to gradually, gradually transition to the new litter. All right. And so about 90 to 10. Yeah. And then if you just, you know, every couple of days, you know, you're changing that ratio by sort of 10%, go buy the cat. Okay. If they seem to be not so keen on it, maybe you need to go a bit slower, but slow and steady over a few weeks. And I'd be pretty hopeful where you can, you can get them used to that new litter.
Okay, good. Thanks for your call, Marie. Thank you. Bye-bye. And congratulations to Steve from Cessnock. You've won the $50 pet food voucher today. And I think that's it. We're done. Done. Fantastic. Thanks for everyone's calls today. Yeah, thank you. And, yeah, we'll catch you all again next week for Pet Chat. Fantastic. 2NURFM. Thanks for listening to this podcast from 2NURFM at the University of Newcastle. You'll find them all at 2NURFM.com.