First of all, Dr Fiona, great to see you again. How are you, Mark? Fantastic. And Cheryl Shaw, it's always a pleasure. Thank you. We must always, we must do it, we must check out that brooch. Now you've got a metal dog today. What's going on there? Okay, he's a very happy little puppy. And we're going to be talking about happy puppies doing the zoomies. All right, sounds like a whole lot of fun for Pet Chat. Dr Fiona's here ready to go, as is Cheryl Shaw with her topic of the week.
Zoomies. Zoomies. Mark, have you heard of zoomies in dogs before? I have. They sort of get that burst of excitement, right? Yeah, it's so much fun to watch. And they just thoroughly enjoy themselves. If you've got a dog that does zoomies, you are going to be laughing and have a big smile on your face. One of my dogs does it regularly. And if people don't know what it is, it's when a dog gets really excited and they'll normally tuck up their back legs, tuck their tail in.
in under their, between their legs. And then they take off and they run and just are crazy. They'll do these running and then they'll turn and stop and then they'll dart off again. And usually it's only in puppies we find this behaviour. And sometimes it will go through to adulthood, but mainly it's in those young dogs and puppies. They just get so excited and all of this pet up energy that they have, they release by doing this quick burst of fun and just running. Does your dog do that, Dr Fiona? Yes. Yeah, I have a greyhound and she, greyhounds tend to like their zoomies and she's just, you can't help but smile when she does it. They just, they just look like they're having so much fun. And you never know when it's going to happen. Sometimes
it happens like if a favourite person arrives home and they just go, oh my gosh, you're home and I'm just going to take off and I'm so excited. And other times it can be, after they've gone to the toilet, often after a poop, it's like, oh my God, I've just got to run because I've just... Well done me. Yeah, well done me. Another time is sometimes it can be during play or during training. If they get overstimulated, they can then suddenly burst into a zoom. Sometimes too, if there's loud noises, sometimes they'll be triggered by a loud noise and just take off and run. But there's other times that can happen as well. Sometimes after a bath, some dogs get the zoomies after that. And that's because of the nervous energy and the release of adrenaline that happens. So they call that... What sort of a bath are they having?
Well, just having that bath for some dogs is just so stimulating. And then they get really excited. And often, too, when they're wet, that anxiety is there. So they run around trying to shake off and roll. Some dogs will roll and some dogs will sort of try and get the water off on the dirt or the grass. And, yeah, that's a different type of a Zoomie, but it does happen. But Zoomies, as I said, they don't last for very long, but they are so much fun for the dog. And you often find after their Zoom, they'll go and have a little rest and lay down. But I just think Zoomies are fabulous. And to watch owners when they've got their new puppy, you know, in hysterics watching their little dog race around it, it is a lot of fun. But it does have a particular name.
call frenetic random activity. Period. So it's FRAP for short. Not crap, Mark. FRAP. Gotcha. And that's always the thing. You have a fun name like Zoomy and then some egg gets ruined by giving it a scientific name. Yeah, that's it. But after their bath, they will run around. They'll do those laps and just enjoy it. So yeah, I think Zoomies are fun. And they really are like a social media meme just in the making, aren't they? Very much so. Yeah. So what my dog did is just running around and got a nice bath and then rolling around in the dirt to get rid of the nice water. And it's often a question that people ask at puppy school. I say, oh, you know, why does my dog do this? And I say, it's because it's happy. It's really happy. This is why they're doing this. They're taking out some of their energy, but just having fun.
So, yeah, but it is only a short period, so enjoy it while they're doing it. Good afternoon, John, at Bano Bay. We've got you as well, mate. You've also got a greyhound, adult dog that does the zoomies, but gives you some grief with it, John. Well, yeah, well, I can walk in the door after being away for a day or so, and I hardly get a tail wag out of him. My wife can walk in after shopping, and he's absolutely rude and stupid. No offence, John, but I think I know who the favoured member of the family is. Yeah, I've been trying to work that out. Yeah, he doesn't get excited at all. I mean, he's got some anxiety problems, and it was he had when we first got him.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, okay. He doesn't do it when he sees me, but when my wife comes in, he goes nuts. Yes, well, I think it sounds like your wife's the favoured member of the family, John, in terms of the greyhound. Look, I do empathise with tearing up the lawn and doing zoomies. My greyhound, Holly, does exactly the same thing. I'm trying to regrow a bit of lawn and, of course, that's the one area she tries to do a turn on. And it's also the same area that they want to dig too. I don't really have any brilliant solutions for you, John. I've been barricading the areas that I don't want my dog to...
to accidentally tear up, but it's kind of hard to get mad at them because they're so joyous when they do it, and it is very short-lived. Cheryl, have you got any suggestions? No, I just think, like you said, sometimes you do have to barricade areas, and particularly if there's any dangers there as well. We do. We've got a gate that separates the back where we have a table out there that afternoon, so we can lock him out of the grass area altogether. Okay. Sometimes...
especially when he's had dinner or he's having his tea and we're not there. He comes in all puffing and panting, so we know what he's done. Okay. It's just a matter of finding where he's done it. Yes. Because he can dig. And I'm talking about a hole at least six to eight inches.
in about half a second. Yeah, pretty powerful, hey? If I wanted him to dig in the garden, there'd be no problems at all. But he always digs where we don't want him to dig. He keeps going back to the same spots to dig. So we're completely filling it in almost every time he does it. John, there is another thing. We were talking about this last week on air. One of the things that some dogs can hear, little critters in the ground. So they will often dig around those areas to try and find like crickets and black beetles and things like that. So it may be an area that you might want to just make sure that there's no little pests in there that your boy's trying to dig out. Yeah, I heard the talk last week about that because they're hearing it so much better than ours.
But as I said, he was a rescue dog. He did have anxiety problems. He didn't like males. He was given to an early couple who had him for a day and had him in his back because he kept bailing the husband up. It sounds like, John, that he's landed on his feet with you. They do bring you lots of joy. Well, we lost a greyhound two and a half years ago that was killed by another dog. And that was a female. We've never had a male before. But this one, he absolutely surprises me with the intelligence he's got. It's almost like he knows what you're saying sometimes. Like your wife will tell him to get on his bed and he doesn't. He turns around and goes.
He doesn't bottle us for food. If we're sitting at the table having tea, he's not hanging around looking for food, unlike our Labrador that we're mining at the moment. Well, John, it does sound like he's a perfect pet for you and your wife, so enjoy that rescue greyhound and look after your lawn as best you can. All right, best of luck with everything there. 49216216 if you have a question for our Pet Chat team today. G'day, Philip at Stockton. Again, the Zoomies with your five-year-old mini poodle. However, this time the dog's injuring itself, Philip. Well...
It's still absolutely a nutcase and she'll do zoomies virtually every day. But the story is that when she was six months old, she did 19 laps of the backyard doing zoomies. Oh, yes. And that night she ended up at Broadmeadow Emergency Clinic because she was having... She depleted all of her... On her footpads, was it, Philip?
No, she depleted her sugar levels. Oh, okay. She was all wobbly and displaying neurological symptoms, so we didn't know what was going on, and it ended up that she'd virtually run out of sugar in her body and had, I don't know if that's called a hypo or a hyper. Hypo, yes. Hypoglycemia. She had that, and so now we've got a jar of glucose in the cup. And look, may I suggest maybe, Philip, maybe stop her at 10 laps.
Well, we do. We stop her after about five now. Yeah, because I think it's really good that she gets that outlet because it is really fun and a great sort of physical and emotional outlet for them. But I think you probably don't want to have that repeated again. Neither does she, I would suspect. No. I mean, she's the funniest dog. I've had five dogs. She's the funniest dog. My wife will go look at her in the eye and go, three, and she'll give three bucks. And then she'll say five, and she'll give five bucks.
Clever cookie. They are clever, those poodles, aren't they? I just wonder, Philip, if the dog picked it up from the commands that the wife was giving you. That's right. They're very clever. She's only tiny for a minute. She's only about 12 inches high. And she can just put it on a dime.
You know, the agility is quite amazing. Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? And small dogs, small sugar level, Fiona. Yeah, yeah. Look, it's so good to see them enjoying Zoomies. We all love watching dogs do Zoomies. But I think if you've got such a particular tiny dog who's very, very keen on doing lots of laps, pulling them up before they do something. Cheryl Shorts here, as is Dr. Fiona. And g'day, Bruce and Vasey. Your dash hound that you're looking after at the moment is having some problems, particularly with the drink. Yeah, well, that's one of his issues. Part of it. He's a two-year-old, or just coming on two-year-old male that I'm looking after him for about a year or so from my daughter.
He doesn't like the lap water out of a bowl, but as soon as the shower door is open, he'll be licking it off the floor and things like that. One of those, hey? Yeah. Is that a problem? It's not a problem, Bruce, but I would give you a couple of tips and tricks. Some dogs and some cats too don't like to drink out of a water bowl for whatever reason.
Sometimes that can be the material that it's made out of. Sometimes it can be the size or the shape of it. My dog, for example, prefers to lick the puddles off the back step than drink out of the water bowl that's a metre to her left, which I shake my head in, but I'm like, you know what, you're getting the water. It doesn't really matter how or why you're getting the water, but you are. I noted from your comments that his stools are a bit dry, which means he's possibly not getting enough water. Yeah, very dry, very crumbly. Okay, so what I would suggest that you do is we need to find a way of giving him water that he'll...
that he'll tolerate. The easiest thing can actually be to add a bit of water to their dry food or even to add a bit of water to their wet food. So you're moistening it up. Sorry, you were going to say? Yeah, well, I wasn't sure. I've only got bigger kelpies and things and whatever before. He's eight kilo. He's not a mini and he's not a full size. He's halfway sort of thing. I'm feeding him the chicken next at the moment. Anything else, Bruce? I put dry food there as well, but he doesn't touch that.
And yeah, about 250 grams of that. I was just wondering what weight of food he should be getting. He doesn't hunt for food afterwards and things. That's probably a comment, Bruce. It would be very hard to assess without actually seeing him because we use something called body condition scores to work out if a dog's overweight or underweight. But yeah, I think you need to find a way to add more water, whether that's running water, whether sometimes adding a bit of...
tuna in spring water, the liquid in that to some water, that can make it a little bit more palatable. Cheryl, were you going to say something? Yeah, another thing, Bruce, is often when you're feeding chicken necks, you will find that their stools will be really crumbly because there's just so much bone and calcium in that that they're going to have a lot of crumbly poo. So I would be, if it was me, I would be eliminating that chicken neck and giving something else. Adding some water and then seeing if that works. Yeah, I've tried him with some wheat bix and things and that. He does tolerate it a little bit, but he'll go off them sort of thing after a few days to try and get a bit of moisture into him and that sort of thing.
Yeah, I'd hunt around, you know, even if you visit your local pet store and have a chat to them about what your symptoms are, and they may have some really good digestion-related, sensitive stomach, all those sorts of different dry foods, Bruce, that might be a good thing to try. All right, best of luck. Cheryl Shaw is here, as is Dr Fiona. And you know what, gang? I think we might expand somebody's family in the next couple of minutes. What do you think? Sounds good. We have a dog of the week. We have a cat of the week. Cheryl, I'm looking at you. You holiday house new pets. Come on. Good chat.
I've got to say, Cheryl, a lot of our calls today are emanating from your topic of Zoomies. Oh, Zoomies are fun. They're great. So good. You know what else is fun? Adding a new pet to your family. You should get a new pet, Mark. You've been listening to Cheryl. I've just been saying for years, you need a new pet. No. Mark's comeback is he's not home that often. So fair call on that. Making a responsible choice. Imagine that. I'd be getting calls. Your cat's doing something or your dog's doing something. No. No. Sometimes it can be hard to say no. Having said that, if I was to win a huge sum of money and I wasn't working anymore, absolutely.
Would do that. Yeah. Because I wouldn't be working anymore. Yeah. So you'd be home to spend time with your pet. Exactly. Exactly. But, yeah, you can check our website, get a new dog or cat of the week. And let's start with Spock. This is the 10-month-old domestic short-haired cat, Dr. Fiona, who loves a high-five by the look of the picture. The photo on the website is super cute. He looks like he's giving us a high-five. Or some kind of Star Trek. I'm not a Star Trek fan, so I don't know if it's like a thing. Yeah. But, yes, he's very cute. 10 months old, so plenty of kitten fun still to be had, but also starting to be a little bit more mature. I know the rules, knows how to, you know.
do all his bits and pieces, says he's curious and affectionate, a real smooch. So if you're keen for a smoochy cat, that might be your one. He's currently in a house that doesn't have small children. So the comments are that maybe a big or loud or hectic lifestyle might be a bit too much. But he's a fan of other cats and he's currently living with a couple of small dogs. So he looks pretty cute, good candidate. Yeah, if you've got dogs, particularly cats as well, they wouldn't mind another one. He would certainly be there. But just no loud households.
Yeah, from what we've been given, that sounds like a plan. Yeah, and that's you out, Cheryl, because now it's party central until 2am at your place. Dog of the week is Dexter, the 12-month-old Kelpie. Yeah, look, on paper, Dexter sounds amazing. He's got lots of, ticking lots of boxes. 12-month-old Kelpie Cross, social butterfly, good with dogs and people, loves playing, loves socialising, loves his food, so that always helps for training, loves his cuddles.
So, yeah, he sounds good. I'm sure he'd be happy with other pets, a busy household, active, loving home. Yeah, he sounds great. And I'm guessing as well, like with a dog like that, you need to sort of be in a household that'll have a lot of exercise attention so that it doesn't get bored. Yeah, very much. He sounds quite high energy. And by default, that means, you know, spending the time to give them physical and mental stimulation and get them out and about and working on their training. And yeah, he sounds good. All right. If you would love to add a new cat or dog to your family, that high five photo. That's so cute. Head up to our website and find the Pet Chat area, the dog or the cat of the week, and you can go from there.
Cheryl's here, Dr Fiona's here, and we're heading to the doggy dentist now. Yeah, look, I thought I'd just touch on something that we see a lot of all week, all day, every day, dental disease in our pets. I'm talking primarily about cats and dogs. A lot of people think that their pet's breath is supposed to smell like, oh, he's got doggy breath. But there can actually be a lot of reasons that a dog or cat might have smelly breath. And it's one of the most important reasons to get your annual checkup at the vet is to have a look at their teeth and gums, make sure they're nice and healthy. Because dental disease, I mean, you know, we brush our teeth when you're supposed to, twice a day, every single day. Your pets probably never brush their teeth. They're not going to do it on their own. They're not going to do it on their own. They usually don't like it. So we need to do what we can to keep their teeth nice and clean. If we let dental disease to get too far progressed, we end up with some really serious complications.
One of which is a large amount of bacteria going through the bloodstream. And then that bacteria can commonly lodge in the heart and the heart valves. It can end up with quite serious heart disease. It can go to other organs like the liver and kidneys. Not to mention, you know, if your dog's panting up near your face, the horrendous smell that we can get. So if we do end up with, you know, if your vet tells you, okay, we really need to clean up these teeth, there's a good reason to do it. You know, we want to keep the animal as fit and healthy and lack of smell as possible. And prevention is always better.
So if we're doing, for example, annual teeth cleans under anaesthetic, we're keeping those teeth in good condition. If we let that dental disease progress too far or too long, we end up with exposure of the roots. We can end up with... wobbly teeth and actually bone loss within the jaw itself. And that would be incredibly painful, as you can imagine yourself. If we have a little teeny tiny toothache, our teeth still look beautiful, let alone some of these teeth that we sometimes see. And x-rays can play a really important role in determining that dental disease in which teeth need to come out. So no soft bristly toothbrush and Colgate for the pets, but all the other stuff. Look, the gold standard of dental care, don't laugh at me, Mark, is actually brushing your pet's teeth. But don't feel bad, listeners, because I've met five or six clients in 20 years who do it sufficiently often.
to be making a real difference. So don't feel bad if you can't do it. Because most people don't. It can be hard enough to get little kids to do it. But yeah, if your vet says get a dental, then you should listen. All right, we have about 15 seconds. Everybody that went to air today has the chance to score that $50 voucher from Dozer & Co. And who have you decided, Dr Fiona? We're going to give it to Philip, who has his mini poodle.
And that was one of Cheryl's Zoomies. Yes, he doesn't love a Zoomie. All right, Phil, we'll get in contact with you over the next couple of days. Congratulations. And thanks to everybody else that rang up as well. As always, thank you, Cheryl Shaw, for coming in. My pleasure. And Dr. Fiona, nice to see you as always. Absolutely, Mark. Thanks for listening to this podcast from 2NURFM at the University of Newcastle. You'll find them all at 2NURFM.com.