Yes, it's pet chat time with Cheryl Shaw and Dr Fiona Giblin, who's about to fall off the chair. Oh, look, I got this, Amanda. No need to share that. We have a problem with the chair in the studio. I'm all good now. It just sometimes goes down when you least expect it. Yes, yes. I have had that happen to me before. Oh, it's quite amusing from this side of the desk. I bet it is from that side. Now, Cheryl, you've got your bone.
been on today. So we're going rawhide again? Rawhide today. So we're going to be talking about those dangers because they're everywhere at the moment. So we want to make sure people aren't buying them and they're not giving them as gifts and their dogs aren't getting them. This is Pet Chat on 2NURFM and we have Tracy from Karua on the line. Hi Tracy. Hello Amanda, how are you? Thanks. Now you've got a problem with your kavoodle. It's got separation anxiety. Badly, really, really badly. I blame, I do blame myself. She's almost, she'll be two in a few weeks time. But ever since we got her when she was a baby, we treated her like a baby. We took her everywhere.
She loved to go in the car, first of all. Yeah. And we'd take it to Bunnings. We could take it wherever. And then on the way home, if I had to quickly duck into the shop to get some groceries or anything, hubby would stay with her in the car while I quickly ran in. But she would howl and cry the whole time, you know, most of the time while I was gone. And, you know, that happened a lot. And then it got to the stage where she didn't really want to go in the car. So I put it down to because I left her. And then we took her everywhere and were always with her for, you know, like I think the full 12 months before we had to leave her, we both had to go to the doctor or something and we had to leave her home.
Yeah. She just cried and howled the whole time. Like, I left her with treats, but she wouldn't touch them. She would not have them until we got home. Yeah, okay. And then we, and then, so, you know, this has been going on, and then, you know, as time's gone on, we've had to leave her. Hubby had to go into hospital, so we had to leave her. You know, we set up a camera inside, and she just mostly just cried and howled the whole time that we left her, which was about six hours. Okay. And then my friend Lorraine suggested, like, her dad has got into a doggy daycare, so my friend suggested that we try that, which I did only just last week. Yeah.
So it was Friday a week ago, I put her in and, you know, just stayed around close just in case. And she was good. She loved the girl and the sitter and everything. She loved her. And she loved other dogs, but she didn't want to, as soon as the sitter left them, she just howled and cried. She tried to escape. So then we did it again. I put her in for another couple of hours on Monday. And then the lady even contacted me and said that I think that she needs more help because she's just, she's okay with humans there. And she did escape out of one safety gate.
tour gating, even though there was more sensors, so she couldn't get through those, but she got through that one. Oh, goodness, Tracy. Sounds like you've got your hands full there. I do, and it's so worrying and stressing, not just for her, but for me. My heart is just pounding all the time. Look, you need to be able to leave your own house without having to worry about your poor little one. Look, I guess a couple of comments, Tracy. As a breed, they love being with their people. They love being involved. They love being part of the family. But the flip side of that is if they're not provided the opportunity to learn to be by themselves, they certainly do struggle. And I guess you can see that.
with what's happening that she definitely doesn't cope. Have you chatted to your vet at all or had any sort of discussions about options with separation anxiety? Yes, I did earlier on, like when she got her needles and everything, and they did offer me medication, but I was a bit wary. I don't want to drug her up, do you know what I mean? So what I do have, somebody else suggested the pet calming, like the drill by Dr Chris Brown, the pet calming treat. So I did start, I started to give her a full one, the big one, so I ended up cutting because I felt that she was a little bit dozy and doping.
And so that kind of worried me a little bit. But also to another thing that we have been doing as well, I have been like putting her in, like I've got a little, we put up a baby gate, which you broke through that anyway twice. But anyway, I put up a baby gate in our bedroom where it's like, it's cooler. It's got the... Anyway, so I lock her in there, and then I pretend that we're going out, and I leave her for a few minutes, and I kept them going back, and good girl, yes, and give her a treat. And even yesterday, what I did was she was very good. She waited like 10 minutes and didn't even bark or cry, and she heard the front door because I pretended that I was going out, so she probably thought we were still home. So she heard the front door, and then she started, and she didn't stop, and I did not go back in there until she stopped, and then I praised her again. Tracy, I mean, you've got the right idea. You're sort of trying to desensitise her to being left alone. My comment, I guess, would be don't feel that medication is a negative thing.
Okay. I guess if I could sort of use another analogy, if she had diabetes, you wouldn't withhold treatment from her. Or if she had arthritis, you wouldn't withhold treatment from her. So just because we can't see her illness doesn't mean we shouldn't necessarily treat it. And the other thing also is medication doesn't have to be for the rest of her life. Okay. It might only need to be for, you know, six months to two years to try and help her break those habits. Because it sounds like, you know, you're trying to change the way you, you know, you're trying to teach her and you're trying to sort of do all these things that are going to help her. But sometimes you just need medication in the interim to help her learn.
Okay. So my comment, yeah, look, my comment would be, it might be, I'd certainly recommend maybe having another chat with your local vet staff. They may have a dog trainer as well that you could work with, or they may have some suggestions that might be medication-based, that might be pheromone-based, but there's lots of options up our sleeve, and I guess encourage you sooner rather than later to sort of try and change this behaviour so that we're, you know, that we're setting her up for success for the rest of her life. Yes, yeah. I do have a book, like, because my friend Lorraine, her dad's dog, like, I was introduced, and they, like, that's my little girl, she loves...
the other little pup, Ashie, and they were going tomorrow to the puppy daycare. Yeah. And so I don't know. I'm a bit worried about that because, like, do we... If she's had a negative experience, Tracy, I wouldn't necessarily be hurrying to take her back there. I'd be wanting to sort of get a few more scaffolds in place to help her manage before you try that again. But best of luck with that and certainly give your vet a call and let us know how you go. Good luck with that, Tracy. All the best. Okay, next on the line we have Margaret from Stroud. Margaret, you've got a six-year-old dog acting strange. Yeah.
Hi, Margaret. Dr Fiona here. Tell me a little bit more. He's having anxiety child between the legs, looking outside, lifting his foot up and sniffing as if pointing sort of thing. Yeah. The only thing that's changed over the last three or four days is the cicadas. They're absolutely insane. Yeah, okay.
Like you see now, he's thinking around with his tails between his legs and doesn't know what to do with himself. Yeah, okay. And is it really only the last few days? Yeah, yeah. I know when he has anxiety because he's got energy medication for thunderstorms. Okay. And if I can get one into him, say, half an hour to an hour before it, it's perfect. It calms him right down. Yeah, okay. But this is exactly the same reactions that I get when I know there's a thunderstorm coming. Okay. And he's otherwise melt well, Margaret? Oh, he's perfect.
Yep. Okay, so eating, drinking, toileting, behaviour is otherwise normal. Yep. Yeah, okay. I can take his mind off it with, you know, if I tell him we're going for a walk and we throw it because we live on property and we take him up for a walk back, but then once we get back around near the house where the cicadas are out of control, he's out beside himself. And is it certain times of the day or night, I assume so? Well, yeah, it was this morning. We got up early, but they go from dusk till dawn. Yeah, okay. It was worse last night. Okay. We don't know how the time he's had a reaction to like this other than thunderstorms. We had dingoes.
like passing through, we got them on camera, then he could sniff them, I think. Yeah, okay. So he wouldn't go off the veranda area for about a week or so. He was keeping the air in that. Look, if you feel he's otherwise well, Margaret, I don't think there'd be any harm in trialling your thunderstorm medication for a couple of doses just to see if that helps. I guess the other thing, if you are worried and want to rule out other things, obviously a vet check to make sure there's nothing else going on would be something that you could consider. But yeah, my... Because they think, you know, dogs have much better hearing than what we do. Yes.
You know? Look, it could be. And, you know, if he's a bit of a sensitive soldier in himself normally, then maybe he's just, you know, he's just not real happy. Cheryl, did you have something to add? Yeah, I just want to say something, Margaret. I, too, had a problem with cicadas in the last week, and I've actually recorded one of them because it was so incredibly loud. It sounded like it was some sort of engine coming out of the ground. And one of my dogs is reactive to that, yet he's not reactive to, you know, thunder and fireworks, but he's certainly sniffing out or hearing the cicadas, so, yeah. He's putting his head in the air, sniffing it with his front foot off the ground like they're pointing at it. Yeah, what breed of dog is it, Margaret?
He's a Cooley Cross Mini Poodle. More Cooley. So pretty smart. He can really hear and smell that cicada. So yeah, good luck with that one. And my husband actually was mowing the other day, doing all the tracks, and he said he was getting absolutely, not drenched, but he could feel the spray off all the...
cicadas weeing all over him. Oh, goodness. Well, maybe, yeah, I mean, if you feel, if it is a bit of a thing that's going to last a little while, maybe a top-up of his anxiety medication might be required. I don't know how many doses you've got, but it might just be we need to... I do 10 at a time, and the baby's pretty good with it. Okay, yeah, maybe see if that settles him a little bit, because, you know, obviously the hearing's so good, the smell's so good, we want to do what we can to decrease their anxiety.
Yeah, okay, exactly. Thank you very much. Best of luck, Margaret. And Cheryl, it's over to you. We're talking about rawhide. Oh, look, these are a problem. And for years, I've been in the pet industry for a long time, and I just can't believe that rawhides are still available for people to buy. So people who don't know what rawhide is, can you explain that, please? Yeah, sure. So rawhide comes from, it's a buy product from the leather industry. So when we're making handbags and shoes and anything out of leather, those hides that are used to make the leather products are actually used for pet treats. And what they do, they get the hide, it can usually be it's a horse or cattle hide, sometimes it can be other animals, and they treat that hide.
with a whole lot of really bad cocktail of chemicals, I'll say. So they start off by soaking it to remove the hair and the fat. And that's usually done in formaldehyde, which, you know, isn't something we want to be giving our pets. And then there's, apart from the soaking to get the fat and the hair off, then it goes through a whole lot of other processes. One is bleaching. So it's either bleached with hydrogen peroxide or...
bleach, chlorine, all of those sort of things. And that also helps to take the rancid smell out of it. After that, it's then puffed up so that they can actually layer it. They go through and layer the puffs of the hide. And when they do that, they then roll them into shape. So they do donuts and plaits and bones and all sorts of fancy little things. And they roll them.
and form these shapes, but at the same time, they actually glue them. So some of those glues are actually toxic as well. So if you ever go online and look how these things are made, you will not buy them. You will not feed them to your pet or give them as a gift, but they are super dangerous. So why they are dangerous, those parts that are formed together to form these shapes, when the dog chews them, and look, some dogs don't even chew them. They just swallow them whole, and this is a problem for you, Fiona, isn't it? If they then need surgical removal. Yeah, and this will happen. Some dogs will just take that down. The trouble is, it's so dense that the actual rawhide doesn't break down. It's incredibly dense.
And the dog's digestive system can't cope with it. And if it's down there, it just becomes very dangerous and it can kill the dog from toxicity and things like that, but also the obstruction. So one of the other things with these rawhide bones is that they can't be digested properly, so they do have to pass through the system, and that's, again, where we can get the obstruction. So sometimes your dogs will get diarrhoea or vomiting, they just can't eat, and they can go downhill very, very quickly. The other thing they pose is a choking hazard. Just like children, we don't give children things that they could choke on. These are very dangerous in the way that when they get wet and the dog's been chewing on them, they actually get incredibly slippery. So if the dog does start to swallow it and choke, trying to get it out of the throat is really difficult because when you try to grab hold of it, your fingers just slip off. Slides off.
And so that there is another problem. The other thing at Christmas times, these rawhides are actually coloured, so they use all sorts of dyes and things as well. And some of those are, again, really toxic. Some of the analysis that's done on these rawhides is really incredible, what they find as residue, everything from arsenic to heavy metal. So it's just something that you just think, oh, it's an innocent pack of treats for your dog. And people are trying to do the right thing, aren't they? They're just trying to buy a present for their pet or someone else's pet, but, yeah, it pays to just think twice about it. I'm surprised that they're allowed at the shops if they're that.
Well, unfortunately, the industry is not regulated. So this is where we end up with this big problem. And, you know, every year I batter on about rawhide, rawhide. Just try to do that education that if we don't buy it, maybe those shops will stop. selling it. Because, you know, if we know not to buy it, not to feed it to our pet, then we are, you know, doing the right thing by our pet. And no doubt, you know, you give a dog something, it's going to chew it or swallow it. And that's the potential that we've got that the dog could choke. It could get obstructed. And then you've got the vet fee and you've got all of that. After hours on the public holiday, overnight. Yeah, Christmas time. Oh, the joys of owning a pet when you have to do the extra dollars. Extra bits and pieces. So, you know, and look, these things, they are available everywhere from your supermarkets to your pet shops. You know, I even saw them at the hardware store. So, you know, it's really quite a concern. So please make sure that you give your dog something or your neighbour's dog.
or your friends' or relatives' dogs, something that isn't a rule, hide you. Have you got suggestions, Cheryl, like things that you think would be good alternatives? Look, I'm really about giving them a toy that is better for them to chew. You know, there's some great toys out there. If you've got a chewer, grab some toys, you know, the peanut butter, put that in your Kongs. If you've got a dog that's bald, you know, likes a ball, get a nice ball. Don't get a tennis ball that doesn't have a hole in it, though. You know, we want to make sure that they're not choking on those either. So, you know, there are lots of things out there. Lots of hazards. There's a lot of hazards. So, you know, you really need to consider the breed of dog you have. You know, you're not going to go and give a Rottweiler a nice fluffy toy because you're going to have the stuffing all over the place and down the dog's tummy as well. So just being mindful about what you're giving them.
And, you know, just remember it can be a very serious situation using rawhide. What about a squeaky toy that drives everyone crazy? I like squeaky toys. Squeaky toys are really good. My dog used to love them. Again, as Cheryl was saying, pick your present for your pet. You know, there are some dogs that will annihilate a squeaky toy in 37 and a half seconds. Well, they're probably not the ones to get the squeaky toy. You know, some of the really good pet toy brands have pets that are really designed for those staffies that love to chew or those really strong, muscular dogs that love to chew.
designed to withstand more of that. You just want to make sure you put it away before you go to bed, otherwise you're getting woken up in the middle of the night. For those really strong dogs like the Staffie, they call them extreme toys and they are wonderful. It gives them an opportunity to relieve some of that stress that they have by chewing and just gives them an opportunity to have something that they can do rather than maybe chewing something that they shouldn't. And I guess on that line too, there's lots of homemade treats and recipes and that sort of thing, which I think, again, would be a great idea if you want to cook for your pet.
As you've said, Cheryl, just be mindful of, you know, what's it got in it. Obviously, none of the toxic things, you know, no sultanas, no onion, no garlic, no nuts, nothing that's going to cause a choking hazard. But, you know, that might be a nice activity to cook some of the family. Yeah, and then you know exactly what's in it. And make sure you write those ingredients on the little label that you're going to give because, you know, some dogs do have different problems and we want to make sure if we've got a dog that's having chicken that it's allowed to have chicken and things like that. So, yeah, but some natural treats would be a nice way to go rather than your raw hides. Hi, Regina.
Hello, how are you? Good, thanks. And you've got a cat that's 17 years old and has a wart or cyst on top of its head. Yeah, it belongs to my son. She's my granddaughter. Tell me more, Regina. I just want to know whether it should be taken out. It's been there for a while, but it doesn't seem to bother her. It's like a half-top and it's clear on the top. Okay. And how long has it been there, would you say? Oh, it's been there for, I'd say.
12 months or more. Okay. And has it changed size or shape, would you say, Regina? I don't think it gets bigger when she's really excited, but it doesn't seem to bother her. Okay. Do you know, has Yvette had a look at it all, Regina?
Say again, no. The vet hasn't checked it? No. No, okay, okay. Look, without seeing the cat, obviously, it would be hard to know exactly what sort of lump it is. The fact that it hasn't changed too much in the last 12 months is good, but it sounds a little bit strange that it would maybe get a bit bigger if she was excited. So certainly, I think to get more advice as to whether it should be surgically removed or not, you would definitely want to seek professional advice. At her age, there are certain anesthetic...
precautions I would like to take with her. I would certainly want to do a blood test on her to make sure her kidneys are okay and also to take care of things like her blood pressure while she was under the anaesthetic. But I think if it is a little wart, then that's probably not problematic. Or even if it's a cyst, it's not problematic. But there could be, I guess, other types of lumps that it could be. That certainly having a look in person and maybe popping a little needle into it in consult, the vet could have a look under the microscope and just see what sort of cells are there. And that could guide you further as to what the recommendations would be.
Yeah, about the size of one cent piece. Okay, okay. Yeah. Okay, so that's going to take her to the bed. Yeah, look, I'd recommend getting it checked. I don't know if she's due any vaccinations or checkovers, but certainly if it's something that's concerning you or the family, the best thing to do would be to get it checked out for peace of mind. Okay, thank you so much. No problem. Thanks for the call, Regina. All the best. And with the heat at the moment, we want to talk about that with animals. Oh, absolutely. The last few days have been pretty out of control, haven't they? But it's certainly a good reminder for what we can do to care for our pets in this sort of weather.
I mean, to start with, you know, if you wouldn't go for a run or a walk in bare feet on the bitumen, don't take your dog for a walk. That bitumen and that concrete gets really, really hot. There is a bit of a way of, you know, cheat sheet of checking if it's too hot. You know, if you've got the palm of your hand and if you put the palm of your hand firmly on the road for five seconds, if your hand is okay with that, then the dog's paw is okay with that. But if you can't touch that bitumen properly for five seconds, then imagine what's going to happen to your dog's feet. Do you see many dogs with burns from that? Look, I use...
Used to work rurally and we used to see it a lot more than what we do now. Hopefully people are just that little bit more mindful of it these days, but it's always a good reminder. You know, if you wouldn't go for a run barefoot, you know, think about how hot that sand gets at the beach, you know, and that's running from, you know, the car park down to the water, let alone, you know, your poor dog's feet. So really, really important, you know, if you wouldn't go for a run, don't take your dog and, you know, dawn, dusk, you know, pick the cooler times of the day to go. Make sure your pet's got more than one water source as well. And in the yard too, they need shade. People often forget, they go off to work and don't realise that their dog is, you know, really suffering in the heat. So make sure there's different shaded areas because as the sun goes across that shaded area.
So really check out your backyard if the dog's outside. Does bowl size matter as far as water? Well, yeah, absolutely. And also don't forget if that water bowl is in direct sunlight, it's going to get hot. So if your dog's only water source is so hot they can't drink it, they can dehydrate even though they've got access to water. So just make sure multiple water sources and in multiple spots in the yard as well. Really important. What about, for example, with cats and water?
I heard something about they don't like bowls that are too small because if their whiskers touch the size of the bowl, they don't like that. Correct, yeah. So they'd much prefer to drink out of a really shallow, wide-mouthed saucer than a deep, narrow, high-walled water receptacle. So yes, absolutely true. They don't like their whiskers touching things while they're eating and drinking. And they love fresh, flowing water. So if you've got a fountain, they love that. Or a shower. Yes, if you're super dedicated, maybe a dripping tap. But yeah, I mean, yeah, just so, so, so important to keep our pets out of that heat. And then obviously, you know, the risk of...
And snakes as well, depending on where you live and where you take your pets. You know, we just need to be mindful at this time of year just to be sensible, really. Yeah, I would say. All right. Well, we've got one more caller on the line. Cheryl from Shaw Bay. Are pigs ears, et cetera, available at pet shops? Okay for dogs to eat. Hi, Cheryl. Hi. Look, I'm after listening to the talk on the rawhide. Yeah. I was just wondering whether the pigs ears and the cows ears that you can buy from pet shops and coles and everywhere, whether they're okay or whether they're not so good either.
Cheryl, just on that, some of the products that we have come into Australia are imported from overseas. And to get them into the country, they have to be gamma radiated. So I've got a really big thing about imported pet food. So personally, I wouldn't feed my dog something that's imported. I'd always make sure that was an Australian product just so that it hasn't been treated because that treatment is then going to be eaten by the dog. So for me, it's a no-go. But yeah, what's your thoughts on that? Oh, look, you know, there are probably worse things out there to eat.
I personally hate the – or dislike, sorry – a lot of the smoked products at pet shops. I just – I don't think they're necessarily a great idea. I think a pigsy is probably better than a lot of the ones out there, Cheryl, but – Sorry, Cheryl, our caller. But I guess if your dog's used to having them and doesn't do things stupidly like try and swallow them whole, then it's really a personal preference, Cheryl. Okay. Now, is there any, what you said, if it's an Australian product, would the pet shop owner, would they know where the supply comes from or not necessarily? Yeah, so if you're buying it from the supermarket, it'll have the origin on the packet. But some of your pet shops, your larger ones, they'll just be buying in bulk. So unless they can prove that it's from Australia, they'll usually be imported. Okay.
Okay, all the best. Thanks for the call, Cheryl. Thank you. And we are just about out of time. And congratulations to Regina from Hamilton South. You've won the $50 pet food voucher for your grandbaby. Very cute. And we'll get in contact with you about that. And, yeah, we've talked through Rawhide and we've talked through the...
Yes, actually, just one thing, Amanda, sorry, just to get a bit of a head start on school holidays and people going away. If your pet is going into boarding, do be mindful that vaccinations are required each year for your pet. And some of those vaccines, if they're overdue, you're going to need a few weeks to ensure their immunity is up to date. So just have a chat to your pet, give them a call. The nurses can help you there. OK, this is Pet Chat. Thank you very much. 2NURFM. Thanks for listening to this podcast from 2NURFM at the University of Newcastle. You'll find them all at 2NURFM.com.