Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the people and rescues making a difference in the lives of animals. Hi everybody. We're gonna have a very interesting and informative episode today. I'm sitting down here to chat with my good friend and animal lover, Charlotte, who is also a veterinarian. Dr. Milazzo, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am Dr. Charlotte Milazzo. I am from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I got my veterinary degree from Tuskegee University in Alabama, and I did my preceptorship in Australia. A couple of externships in California. And I like to do private practice and charity work as well. Birds are my favorite. Everybody always asks.

So, what's special about birds? Why are they your favorite?

Well, they're forgotten about by a lot of other vets. Vets will say, oh no, I don't see birds. And some things are pretty easy to take care of with birds, but some things are highly specialized 'cause they're so different than all the other species. They're just really cool creatures. And the amount, the type of species and the wide variety is huge. There's so much diversity, we've got raptors, we've got parrots, we've got songbirds. It's just interesting.

I wanted to talk about a trend that I'm seeing a lot on social media, and it's basically where people get on social media and they'll be having some kind of veterinary emergency and they're out there asking people for help. Hey, what do I do? So I wanted to quickly chat about situations where people should be going to the vet asap. From your experience, what are some of the most common situations where pet owners hesitate to go to the emergency room, but absolutely should?

Well, I, one of the hard ones to make the call is when an animal eats an object that is obviously dangerous or something that's not gonna pass like rope or material a lot of times it does pass, but, some things are just obvious foreign bodies that are gonna get stuck and sometimes people will wait until the animal gets really sick and they go in. I think we probably see more cases of object eating where people wait too long than, coming in and not needing to have come in. So it's always best to catch those things right away.

I actually had a situation with that when I was younger. It was Christmas. I had a relatively new cat. He was probably about maybe seven, eight months old. And I saw him steal a piece of ribbon off of a Christmas present.

Wow.

And I saw him eat the ribbon

uhhuh.

So I chased him down. I tried to get it, couldn't get to him in time, and I saw him swallow that ribbon. Well, we ended up at the emergency vet. It was like my worst Christmas ever.

Yep.

And the vet had to try to induce vomiting. He vomited several times. And it never came up.

Yep.

And so the vet was like, are you sure that, are you sure you saw him eat it? I'm like, I am absolutely 100% certain that he ate it. Oh, well. So they did send him home. They said they thought that maybe I just didn't see it correctly.

Uhhuh.

So we got home and they just, they did tell me, look out for vomiting and diarrhea. But we got home and he did end up throwing it up.

Well that's good.

Yeah. So he did eat it.

Uhhuh.

I wasn't wrong. I did see him eat it.

Yep.

So, what would you say about that? Should people be a hundred percent certain that they see them eat it?

If you have any idea that you think your animal ate something bad? If you even have that inkling and the animal seems in any way distressed, yes, you definitely need to go to the er. Also with like medications I have like. Dogs and cats that will get into human medications, eat a whole bottle of like blood pressure medicine or ADD medication or something like that. And you have about 20 minutes to get them to puke it up. Sometimes emergency vets will tell people to give a little bit like a teaspoon or so of hydrogen peroxide to get the animal orally, to get the animal to throw up, especially if it's pills because you only really have about. 10, 15 minutes really with some pills before they start to be metabolized and absorbed in the GI. So, otherwise if not you need to rush to the hospital and have them induce vomiting so they can vomit up as many of those pills as they can or whatever they ate. You have to be careful too because sometimes if they eat things like batteries, like those button batteries. You don't want them to vomit in those case cases, they have to be opened up because if they vomit that up, the acid in the stomach, it's gonna burn the esophagus and everything on the way up. Same thing with things like bleach. If an animal like eats a bleach bottle, like gel bleach pen or something like that, and they manage to get it down, you probably don't want them throwing that up again because it's just gonna irritate the esophagus on the way up. So it depends on what they ate. And another big one too is tampons, feminine products, baby diapers, dental floss. Those are all the things that we pull out of animals, underwear. All kinds of things. So, if you see your animal eating that, then it's time to go in. A lot of people wait days and days, and then by that time we have to go in and remove sections of intestine that have died and things like that. And then the outcome of the surgery is generally not very good in, in a lot of those cases. String foreign bodies like the ribbon, you have to really be careful about. If you think your animal has swallowed a ribbon, the first place you wanna check is the back of their tongue. If you can, you should open the mouth and check the base of the tongue. There are cats that I have seen that have played with yarn. I always tell people it's not cute to give a kitten yarn. Not at all. So if you have a cat that plays with yarn, no stop. I pull way too much yarn out of animals. So, it can get wrapped around the tongue base, go through the entire GI and be hanging out the butt end of the cat. And people will call the ER and say, well, should I pull the string that's hanging from my cat's butt? And I'll tell them, no. Check under the tongue first, and you'd be surprised how many people find the beginning of the yarn or the ribbon or whatever it is wrapped around the base of the tongue dental floss. You it's incredible to think that it could travel that far out of the animal. And the problem is they get in distress pretty quickly because it's like everything from mouth to butt turns into an accordion, all, bunched up together on a string. So definitely keep strings away from your animals.

Yeah. And I hate that every time you see a drawing of a kitten they always have a fricking ball of yarn.

Yes. Exactly.

And I hate that because kittens should not be playing with string. They should not be playing with yarn.

Yep. I'll see people give rope toys sometimes to the wrong size animal. And they'll have a large dog with a rope toy that they could easily swallow. And there's plenty of safe things for them to chew on without giving them anything that could be dangerous.

If they have string like hanging out of the butt and Yeah. So if they have the string hanging out the butt, they should not pull it.

Never pull string hanging out of a butt. Now if they're defecating and you see a little bit and you know they can't poop and you're, you can gently apply a little pressure. But if you have to, if you have to actually pull on it, leave it alone. If you can wipe it with a Kleenex or a paper towel and it comes off or out, okay? If you have to pull it, do not pull it, go immediately to the er.

Because I can imagine it can get tangled on intestines and all kinds of stuff too.

Oh yeah.

Not just The tongue base.

Yep

so are there other situations aside from. Foreign bodies.

Well, I see a lot of unnecessary visits to the emergency room. Well, I guess we'll talk about the necessary ones. Bloat in dogs is a big one where people will see just the animal uncomfortable pacing. Sometimes there's vomiting, but not always. Sometimes the stomach can twist and nothing's coming in or out. It's extremely painful. And if you stand over the animal, you can see. One side, bulging and it's, you can even ping it and it sounds like a basketball or some other air-filled cavity. And it, if you don't decompress it very soon, it will it can actually rupture. So, there's certain breeds that are more predisposed to that, like, mostly large dogs and deep chested dogs like German shepherds, greyhounds, poodles standard sized poodles. Dobermans they are one of those that are suspect for bloat. So, a lot of times when they eat, they'll eat too quickly and swallow a lot of air. And that can also be the cause of like air bloat. Sometimes they can bloat from eating too much food, but usually if the dangerous one is air bloat.

Now, I don't know if it's true, but I've heard something about not giving them ice either. Can ice cause bloat?

Not necessarily. I think if you have an animal that has a sensitive GI, that may be a bad idea. I. Most of the time, ice really isn't gonna matter. I'd be more worried about them choking on it or, aspirating on a, on something the size of an ice cube. 'cause some ice cubes are just perfect to fit down the trachea. But as far as it being cold, that's really shouldn't be an issue. But they even tell human athletes, that, if you're overheated, sometimes it's a bad idea to drink something that's very cold, so it may cause cramping, but it's certainly not gonna, cause anything major? I always tell people two things. You must go to the ER for if an animal can't breathe and that it's turning blue. This is not a regular thing, meaning you, you have a boxer or a French bulldog that gets excited and they turn blue for a second. If they're coughing or they have a reverse sneeze situation going on that's one thing. But if you think they've inhaled food and they look like they're really struggling, it's time to, to get to the er. But some of the things you can try at home, if it's a dog that you can pick up actually holding it upside down. Is an excellent way to get something out of a trachea with a small animal or even a small person if need be. People always forget, work with gravity. So that's another one that you a must for going to the er. Bleeding. Anything that's bleeding, that's spurting blood a few inches up, yes, you need to apply quick pressure and get them to the er. Things like toenails, bleeding toenails, or dogs that bite their tongues sometimes there can be a lot of blood associated with that, but it's not like a dangerous amount of blood. So, I have never seen an animal bleed out from a toenail ever though. Generally toenails do not need to go to the er. It's always best to have quick stop, which is some like styptic powder that people use for shaving. You can pack on the end of the toenail. You can even use cooking flour in a real emergency to help congeal some of that blood at the base of the toenail. And that's one of the most painful injuries. I see that in the ER a lot because the dogs will limp and people will think, oh, it's a broken leg. It's a toenail that's cracked. So I always say if your dog's limping or your cat's limping, first thing you should do is check the toenails. If you can't do anything else, at least do that. And that's one thing you can rule out.

I'd like to get into cats a little bit too. What are gonna be some of your more common emergencies that you're gonna see in cats?

Cats. One of the big things we see with cats, especially male cats, is bladder stones. And what happens is it they get a stone in the bladder, same way that people get stones in their bladder and kidneys and other places as well. The only problem is the urinary tract of male cats is so small. It's like a couple of hairs. wide. So if they get even just a little bit of grit in their urine or a stone, it can easily block the bladder from draining into the urethra, especially in a male because it's much smaller and it has to go through the penis. So, a lot of times they'll get blocked and people don't realize that their cat hasn't urinated for a day or two and they're acting strange. They're crying, they're just laying there. And if they're starting to be in dire emergency state, You can even squeeze the area of their body where their bladder should be just around the pelvis from underneath the abdomen, and you can feel, it feels sometimes like the size of a lemon or a baseball and it's completely filled with urine and they can't urinate. And it's a series of emergency. So as soon as we get them in, we try to sedate them immediately and pass a catheter. If we can't pass a catheter to push the stone back into the bladder. We'll we have to go in and, aspirate or suck some of the urine out with a syringe and needle to give them some relief so we have a little time to work and that they're not, in danger of their bladder rupturing because if they don't get attention for that, they, their bladder will rupture and it will kill them and that it's not a very pleasant way to go. So I've unfortunately seen some some folks that maybe didn't have the funds to go to the emergency vet. I think they can do something at home, and unfortunately I've had to tell them sometimes euthanasia is the kindest option in those cases because it's not a nice way to pass with your bladder ruptured and dying of sepsis. So if that's the case, it's always best to put your animals' feelings ahead of yours for sure. Yeah, and

Dr. Milazzo also helped me with my cat Kipper.

Yes.

Would you like to take the credit for Kipper Dr Milazzo?

Well, just to give you guys an idea, I'm 45, so I'm on the route to becoming what we call a dinosaur veterinarian. So I still know some of the old ways of teaching and some of the quick fixes that we've had to do to save animals. Almost like battlefield medicine. And sometimes that comes in handy, especially when there are a lot of young vets around that are very smart, very on top of things, very into the latest and the best techniques and the current research. And so, there's a little bit battle between the dinosaur vets and the new vets about what to do with blocked cats. And over the 20 years that I've been practicing. I can tell you that the proof is in the pudding and what I see when I treat it, what cats get better and what cats don't. And a lot of times when you have a cat that either has a stone or has severe urethral inflammation, so much so that it's so swollen that they can't pee and it's not necessarily a stone, but it's just swelling of the urethra that keeps them from urinating. You have to go in and you have to put a catheter in there just like a human would get in the hospital so that they're able to urinate from the bed or whatever. And you have to leave that in there for at least two to three days. So that while the inflammation is going on going down and you give antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The body has a chance to be able to rid itself of waste products. And while the inflammation is stopping and you don't have to worry about re blocking up again. Now, there's a newer school of thought that, that says, the catheter shouldn't be in that long. It needs to be taken out after, 10 or 12 hours, or sometimes even less once the cat is unblocked because it's a source of infection. Well. My, my train of thought is that you don't have to worry about infection killing you if your bladder ruptures. So, you gotta pick the lesser of two evils. So the funny story is how Dixie and I became friends many years ago was when Kipper was blocked and for the first time. Usually some male cats will happen once in a lifetime, sometimes twice if it becomes a repeat thing. And they like, they're going into the emergency several times with this. Then they have to get what's called a urethrotemy which is basically they remove the penis and they make a new opening that's much larger for the bladder to drain. So, it's basically just like they will, most of them leak urine after that, but it's a surgery that you can do to save their lives. But it's not something that you wanna do on a cat that's been blocked once in its life. 'cause chances are it had an infection. And once we clear up the infection or get rid of the stone and change the diet, it won't happen again. So Kipper went into a local er and they. Wanted to perform a urethrotemy on Kipper after he was there for the day. And I wasn't at work that day, but I was chit-chatting with Dixie here. And I was out on the town in my much younger days having a drink and I got very angry. I was like, I'm not letting them cut your cat's penis off. So I said, do I sound sober enough to call the emergency room? And Dixie says. maybe, but just don't use the F word. So, so at which point I instructed her to go and get her cat in any state that was in and bring it to me first thing in the morning. And thankfully she listened to me and I saw the cat and we were able to catheterize him a few days and he lived the rest of his life not having to have a Romy. So, 'cause that's a big thing, that's like a person getting like a colostomy bag. Imagine if you had constipation one day and somebody said, well, we're gonna just give you a colostomy bag. No that's definitely not the answer. So, before you agree to a surgery like that. May maybe ask an older vet. I don't know. It's just a thought. Us old folks, and I say I'm old, but there's plenty of vets in their eighties that are still practicing. So I guess they think I'm a youngin still. But if you run it by an older vet and they make a face, chances are you might wanna reconsider or get a second opinion.

And Kipper never had a problem.

Exactly.

After that it was just a one time thing and we put him on the special diet and that was it. We never had a another problem. Now I did watch 'em like a hawk. To make sure.

Yep.

And so some of the signs that I would like to say if you see first inappropriate elimination.

Yep.

Okay. Don't go on Facebook, don't go on social media and ask. Why is my cat peeing outside the litter box? Go to a vet because it could be a sign of something much worse.

Exactly. It could be just a UTI or infection. It could be behavioral. But if your cat always uses a litter box and it stops, something is usually wrong. And a lot of times if they urinate in strange places to get your attention, something's wrong. Inappropriate. Elimination is. Probably more of a sign of issues in cats than it is in dogs. Sometimes dogs like to mark certain things. Of course, cats do too, but with cats it's usually a sign that something hurts them or something's going wrong.

I'd also like to talk a little bit about people who just do fostering for younger animals. So we're gonna talk about like bottle kittens and bottle puppies. Of course, I'm more familiar with the bottle kittens. 'cause that's what I do. So I see something frequently with people when they have the bottle kittens. The kittens might start to dehydrate 'cause they're not giving them say, enough fluid. What is a good way for somebody to test for that, to see if they're dehydrated?

Well, you can check what's called their skin tur or how wrinkled the skin is. If you pull up the skin, either, on their side or at the scruff area or anywhere really, and you pick it up and it tenses or it stays up in the pinch position for longer than a second. Then they're probably dehydrated, sunken eyes around the eye sockets. You'll see that they're sunken in. And also of course really dark, strong urine and not urinating enough as well as a, is a pretty good sign of dehydration too. Weakness also. And another good thing since we brought it up, not that it's related to, well, it could be related to bottle kittens too. A lot of times people get kittens and puppies. They'll come in and they'll say, oh my gosh, my kitten or my puppy is really weak, and it's just laying there. It's breathing. It's okay, but it's just laying there. Sometimes I've had, I've told people before they do anything, as long as the animal was breathing and not obstructed in any way, like choking on anything, I've told them to get some plain karo syrup or pancake syrup and rub it on the animal's gums. A lot of times puppies and kittens suffer from hypoglycemia or low blood sugar if they miss a feeding, or let's say mom got distracted and didn't feed them and they went. A little bit too long without a feeding. Their blood sugar can drop and they look horrible. They look like death, and then all of a sudden they're up and running around again and it's because their blood sugar drops. So that's always something to keep in mind. If you see a recumbent animal that looks normal, otherwise, gums are pink, they're breathing okay. There's no bleeding anywhere. They're not painful, but they just look listless sometimes a little bit of pancake syrup. Which is probably the safest thing to give them so they don't choke. Rub it on the gums and it'll be absorbed pretty quickly.

Yep. And that is something that I have done plenty times and they usually pop right back up after that.

Yep. Like if you find abandoned kittens, a lot of times if they're weak, that's the first thing you should do. Along with hydrating them is get their blood sugar back up.

Another thing that I would like to talk about too is parasites and the little babies like that. Because I've seen situations where the parasites can really do a number.

Oh, yes.

And I know like coccidia and Giardia are two really big ones. So what are signs of that people would need to look out for?

Usually they look bad. They're they're on the thin side. They have watery diarrhea. Sometimes it's discolored and green, sometimes there's a strange odor to it. And the one thing to remember about things like that is, especially, let's say. You find a cat in either a hoarding situation or a kitten in a hoarding or even a cat in a hoarding situation or where they're in an unclean environment that has a lot of animal feces around sometimes will get them. And those are the ones that are prone to having things like that. It's easy to get stuck in places. I've seen some rescues that don't have very good cleaning. protocol. And so what'll happen is they'll have one kitten that comes in with giardia or coccidia and they'll clean, but they don't clean enough. And then the next batch of kittens that come in also gets it. And it just continues in to persist because they haven't cleaned properly or they haven't done a, like a proper quarantine to make sure that any new animals that come in aren't having profuse watery diarrhea.

Yeah. That's why I always quarantine all my kittens.

Yep, yep. I see it all the time and people are like, why do all my kittens come to come and get sick? Everyone, they all have diarrhea. No. You just need to clean a little bit better and practice a little bit different intake. And it doesn't mean that you have to treat them like a, hospital patient, like things were, no, it just means you need to keep them alone and keep the ones that have not been exposed to the other ones away until, and then if you see diarrhea, you just keep 'em separate and clean, it's not a hard thing, but it's an accumulation of all the little things you do that make a successful like a shelter or rescue situation. I worked at a very fancy hospital in another state at one point, and the kennel staff cleaned with a rag in a bucket in detergent, or it was an antibacterial detergent, but still each cage was wash washed with the same like rag and sponge. So I saw multiple cases of diarrhea from boarding animals, and it didn't look unclean. It didn't smell unclean, but you're transferring bacteria from cage to cage. So if one animal has something now they all have it, so that's a big one. And then when you're talking about parasites, like actual worms, coccidia and giardia are parasites, but they're more akin to a bacteria than actual worms. You're not gonna see giardia, you're not gonna see coccidia in the stool. That's something microscopic. But if you see things like round worms that look like spaghetti, anything that looks like spaghetti that's coming out the butt, or sometimes vomited is usually a roundworm. We usually don't, sometimes you can see hookworms, but they're much smaller. They have a mouth part that allows them to attach to the wall of the intestine and suck blood. Hookworms can actually be much more dangerous than roundworms because they can make them anemic and, suck all the nutrients and blood from them. Whereas the roundworms just sit around and obstruct the bowel. Maybe they stop absorption of nutrients, but it's not quite the same as hookworms. Those, both, all those eggs come from the ground. That's why they tell kids that are playing in the sandbox. Wash your hands, kids playing outside. Wash your hands. You can also get them, you can get worms from walking around barefoot because there's a certain stage of the larva that will migrate through the skin and then pick up residents through the bloodstream into the GI. So that's how people very often in rural areas end up getting worms as well. So, making sure your animals on a regular deworming routine or that the monthly meds that they take cover, that is important. People get overly concerned about tape worms. I see that a lot on emergency people freaking out because tape worms, they look like little grains of rice. People have also described them to look like inch worms. And sometimes they can be a little long, but usually they look like long grain rice, and those do not come from the ground. They come from swallowing a flea. And an animal doesn't have to be infested to have to have tape worms. All it takes is one flea. They can swallow, one flea while they're licking themselves and. They've got tape worms. So one problem I have with that is people will come in and they want me to treat the tape worms because they see them coming out the butt or stuck to the fur and they're freaked out by it and they think they can get it. And I have to tell the owners, no, you cannot get tape worms unless you swallow a flea. You have to swallow a flea. So unless you're swallowing fleas, you're gonna be okay. Yes, it's gross, but we can take care of it and they'll want. Their animal to be treated for tape worms, but then they don't get flea prevention. So they come back in a few weeks and they're like, I thought you treated the tape worms doc. And I say, well. Your animals swallowed another flea. And even though they're on prevention, sometimes they still swallow a flea. So it's just one of those things you have to look out for. A lot of times tapeworms don't usually cause problems. They just hang out and look gross, but they can cause soft stool and they can cause their butts to itch. So if you see them rubbing their butts, chances are it could be tapeworms or it could be their anal glands, which are. Two little glands at the opening of the anus that have a lubricant in them. It's a remnant from wild animals that when they eat bones and fur, not that our current domestic animals could tolerate a diet of bones and fur. They still have those vestigial type organs there and it's supposed to lubricate the feces on its way out. Our animals now do not have bulky stools like that. So some of them have problems with their anal glands and they need to come in to see me and I have to express them, or, basically push on them so that they can evacuate those. And that will help with but itching, so

since you mentioned fleas of course I always recommend people to go for flea prevention, the topicals. And the oral medication to go to a vet. You don't wanna go to the grocery store to go get those things. Exactly.

There is a particular brand which starts with an H and ends with a Z that is sold commonly in stores that I see repeated Intoxications with that topical medication. Specifically for cats. Also, you never want to use dog flea prevention on cat and cat flea prevention on dog stay within the species guidelines on the box, and also read how to administer it. I've seen some people administer topical meds or meds that are put on the skin or applied to the skin orally. And I've seen some things. I've also seen somebody give a suppository for the butt orally and wondered why there was a problem or why the animal wasn't getting better. So always read your instructions and if you have any doubts about where the medication goes and how to give it. Ask the vet, they will be more than happy to answer any question that you have. So don't ever fear that you're gonna look silly. We would much rather answer the question than try to figure out the mystery of what happened later. But yeah you wanna ask the vet and if you don't necessarily want to make an appointment to see a vet. You can at least establish a relationship with one. My clients, even if they aren't coming in to see me, I get a lot of questions or they want prescriptions filled for flea prevention and I have no problem doing that as long as I have some sort of established relationship with them and some sort of knowing that they're gonna use the product correctly and I can keep it in their records. So I know if something comes up or they have a problem, I can see what they've taken.

So another thing that I would like to ask you about, this is something that people freak out about all the time is ringworm,

oh lord. Ringworm is the hot topic, especially when it comes to rescue. People see missing fur that looks like it could be in a round like shape on an animal, and they completely lose their minds and. The first issue being that it's a zoonotic disease, and that's a fancy word for saying humans can get it and species can transfer it from one to another. So, that's part of the reason why people freak out, but also the name freaks them out. Ringworm is not actually a worm, it is a fungus. It is the same thing as athlete's foot or jock itch that humans get. It is nothing dangerous. But the problem is that, it is contagious. If you go walking around on dirty gym floors, you're probably gonna get athletes' foot. Kittens that have ringworm, chances are all of the kittens that were exposed and sometimes the people who handled them will come up with a few ringworm spots. It is not anything to panic over. You go to the drugstore, you get some antifungal cream. The same stuff you would use on Athletes' Foot or Jock itch. You apply it to the lesions about twice a day for a week or so, sometimes a little longer, and they go away. If you have an immunocompromised person in the family or around, then that might be a little bit different. But basically that's how you handle it without freaking out. I see it all the time. One time I had to do a bunch of exams for some rescue animals that were going to a different state. And I got a callback from one of the rescue people screaming at me telling me, you let a puppy with ringworm go to another state. And I'm like whoa. First of all, by the time we would have taken a sample of the missing fur on the spot on the dog in question and actually put it in a medium to grow out. It would've been several days before we would have a positive. Like we would have an answer to whether or not it was ringworm or not. So if you don't know, a little fungal antifungal cream will not hurt. And as I had told them before, it did not turn out to be ringworm. It was a scab that had fallen off and it was in a round shape and the hair had to grow back on the animal. So a lot of times things that people think are ringworm are not actually that just because they're round and hairless. You can look up pictures on Google and see what ringworm looks like. But just remember that some of those pictures are not accurate. And also some of them are like worst case scenarios. It's like if you look up a disease online, you're going to see someone in a third world country that has such an advanced state of disease that we may not even recognize. What it is because it's so far gone. So, just be aware of that. When you look things up on the internet, usually it's the worst case scenario that you'll see. And what you have in real life is something that's barely questionable. And if you bring your animal to the vet. If you want an answer of yes or no, this is definitely ringworm or not, it's gonna take days to grow out on a culture plate before we know if it's actually ringworm. We can even look at it with a black light and sometimes that will help identify it, but not always. So when in doubt, just go get you some miconazole cream at the drugstore and you'll be good.

Another topic that I'd like to touch on are gonna be three of the feline diseases that people see a lot of. So one of 'em is gonna be FIP. Which there, last year it seems like there was a huge FIP outbreak. And then of course the feline leukemia. And FIV.

Feline leukemia and FIV are more like long-term illnesses. FIV is almost like a person that has HIV. It's not a death sentence. It just means we need to watch them for passing on the disease or also having problems with their immune system and catching other things. So that's a big part of that is, is not the actual disease, but the things that, that go along with them. That's the problem. I see a lot of people that have maybe one cat and they'll see that it tested positive for FIV or feline leukemia and they wanna put it to sleep, or the vet suggests putting it to sleep. There's no need for that. Keep your cat inside and keep your one cat or adopt another cat that's positive and they'll be okay. So, there's that FIP is a little bit different. There's still a lot that's not completely understood about FIP and it is. Very much a diagnosis of exclusion. We have to rule out a bunch of other things to realize that it's FIP and it's one of those things as you get to be older as a vet, you can pick them out as they come. But it's often a disease of excluding other things like feline leukemia, FIV, and other immune diseases.

Now back to the feline leukemia and FIV. Can you tell us how feline leukemia is transferred

Well, basically blood and saliva, and those are two things with cats especially if they're un neutered or unspayed. They're mating. There's lots of biting going on, they're scratching. And exchange of saliva and blood in any kind of way is just, that's the way to pass it on. So, that's basically how they contract these diseases.

When it comes to the feline leukemia. I've always heard that one's a little bit easier to catch so that if you have a cat that has feline leukemia, you do not wanna bring another cat into the household.

Exactly.

Now with the feline aids? Or FIV.

Yeah.

That one I have heard it's more difficult for a cat to catch that because you actually have to have a bite for that.

Exactly.

So. There's a little bit of controversy with that because you hear some people will say, oh, well no, an FIV cat cannot live with a another cat. But then you have other people that are like, no, as long as you have cats that don't fight and they're not biting each other, then they're fine together. So what are your thoughts on that?

I tend to agree as long as you know what kind of risk you're assuming and you understand how the disease is transmitted I'm of the thought that. If the cat's going to lose its home or this cat would be otherwise put to sleep or put in a shelter, it would be better off given a chance to get along with another cat in an inside environment to be given a chance at a good home versus ending up at a shelter or ending up being put down as long as they get along, There are vets that would disagree with me on that. But especially here, we have so many unwanted animals and so many animals that die in the shelters in Louisiana that I feel like anything we can do to stop that, at least to try is good.

Another topic that I would like to touch on a little bit too is if you are open to any alternative, holistic, or say new age concepts when it comes to treating animals?

Absolutely. I say the best medicine that we can provide would be western medicine and eastern medicine or alternative medicines. If we could actually, if the communities could get along. We could definitely do some wonderful things for people and for animals. It's a shame though that people tend to be extremists and either, okay, I want it textbook, I want drugs, I want surgery, I want Western style. Or we have people that are completely holistic. They won't give antibiotics. They do everything to avoid surgeries and things like that. Sometimes things just need antibiotics. Sometimes they're not gonna get better without surgery. But there are so many other things, so many other modalities. Cold laser ultrasound, there are herbal medications that are very good. Now you have to be careful 'cause people think just because it's herbal, it's safe. No the way we've derived antibiotics and every other drug that's manufactured is originally from nature, from plants and compounds that already exist. So a drug is a drug, whether it's a plant or it's been rendered in a lab to mimic the same makeup as a plant. It's all drugs and it's all going in your body, whether it's from the ground or from a lab. So you have to be careful, especially with human supplements. People will take all kinds of things and not tell their doctors, and then bad things will happen if their doctors give them medicine. So, like a prescription medicine. and they're taking certain herbal things. But I think if the two communities work together, we would really benefit from each other. I've met some holistic vets that are anti parasite drugs and things like heartworms. Here in the south we get heartworms are carried by mosquitoes and if your animal is not on heartworm prevention here, more so with dogs than cats, but cats can get heartworms. If they're off prevention, they're probably going to contract heartworm because we have so many mosquitoes. In the Mississippi Delta area that it's ridiculous. So, you have to do that, and the amount of drug that it takes every month to keep away heartworms or an injection that lasts for a few months is so minuscule and tiny and really has no lasting ill effects to the liver or the kidneys or anything. It's necessary to do that. So I disagree with some holistic medical people that don't believe in doing that. And also you need to use antibiotics when antibiotics are warranted because nobody wants to get septic, certainly if you have a minor infection, you can try things. One of, one of the things that I see humans mess up all the time is, well, I'm not gonna get antibiotics for this UTI, I'm gonna drink cranberry juice. While that's great. And cranberries, actually can help as a natural way to rid yourself of bacteria. You would have to have like several pounds of dried concentrate cranberry to eat in capsules at a much higher dose than drinking a few glasses of cranberry juice. Sure, it'll help flush out, but it's certainly not gonna fix something the way antibiotics would.

To touch on that a little bit How would you feel about some of the supplements that they have out that would be for assisting with the cats that do have the urinary tract problems?

I think it's great. I think there is certainly nothing wrong with giving some of the cranberry supplements. That are veterinary tested and approved for having efficacy and safety. Because sometimes if you get products online or in, in pet stores, you don't know what's in there. I've seen actually some supplements in pet stores that are like 0.0, zero, zero 1% of active ingredient. It's like, well, you might as well just give them water 'cause that's not gonna help, so make sure you get a brand that is veterinary approved. Also fish oil. Fish oil is a great thing for all animals. Even for us, I'm a big user of fish oil like salmon and krill oil and like your Omega-3 and six fatty acids. For all the itchy dogs that don't have fleas or other skin problems, or even if they do, it really does help change the quality of their skin. We can put moisturizer on and help ourselves, but there's very little topically you can do for a cat or dog to help their skin. But if you give them good nutrients internally and you give things like fish oil, that can absolutely help the way their coat looks, the way they feel all their organs and everything.

Yep. I do the fish oil. And it's remarkable to see the difference on the hair when you start 'em, on the fish oil.

Yep. You can sometimes see pets, especially short coated dogs and cats too. You'll see flakes dry skin and all of that will go away a lot of times just with some fish oil. and let me remind that goes on the food internally because I once had a lady come to me and tell me, well. I've been slathering the fish oil all over my dog every day for the month, and I just can't stand the way he smells, especially when he lays in the sun. And then I see the dog and I'm like, oh my gosh, this poor lady, she's been slathering fish oil on the dog and letting it bake outside. Wow. That will take your breath away for sure.

Yeah, I can imagine. 'cause It's nasty smelling when you get it on your fingers.

Oh, yes.

When you're trying to put it on the food.

Oh, yes. And this lady I have to admire her commitment because she really did love her dog. And I couldn't laugh at her. I just said, no ma'am. And she's like, I'm so sorry. I can't believe I didn't think about that. I just saw it was an oil in a capsule and I assumed I was supposed to squeeze it out, like, face stuff for women. And I'm like no. No, it was for the skin, but you were supposed to put it in the food. So, but you know what, I always tell people, I'd rather you ask or come in when you think something's wrong. I'm not gonna make fun of you. I'm gonna, I'm gonna make sure you get it right.

Considering the human animal bond, do you feel that incorporating emotional and energetic wellbeing into treatment plans is beneficial?

Absolutely. Our animals pick up on our energy a lot. There's some spooky things that happen. Oh, I wouldn't call 'em spooky. I think we just don't understand it yet. Very often I see animals and people with the same diseases, and I'm not talking ones that they caught from each other. Things like thyroid disease diabetes like. Insulin dependent diabetics glaucoma and it's not a case of like, oh, well they're both intoxicated with something. It really is truly an energetic thing. And you can almost, if you're sensitive to that kind of stuff, you can almost, tell, especially in animals that are closely bonded with the human that has these issues as well. I think there's a whole lot of energetic exchange with our animals, so I think there's a lot we can do with them, for them in that sense. I'm not educated on a whole lot of those things, but things like reiki and a massage, acupuncture, stuff like that. All that's really good. I said that wrong. It's Reiki, isn't it?

It's Reiki, yeah. It was close enough so it works. There we go.

It works exactly that. That's how much I know about Reiki. Although I'm planning to learn one of these days. I've seen wonders of that used with. Little weenie dogs or dachshunds that have back pain. I've seen that in particular, along with acupuncture make a difference for them. So, yeah.

Well, I'm a reiki master and then I can say I have seen Reiki work, so.

Exactly. Exactly.

So before we end this episode, is there anything else you would like to add?

When you're looking for a veterinarian. You want one that wants to establish a relationship with you, one, that when you come in, they know you, they know your animal. They know as soon as they look at your animal, they know something's wrong. And you wanna try to keep the same veterinarian from puppy and kitten hood all the way through the animal's life. If and when it comes time at the end of their life and you have to talk about euthanasia, it's a lot better when you have a relationship with that vet because. They're gonna act in the best interest of the animal too. And also to remember, if you have a problem with your veterinarian, 99.9% of the time your veterinarian is thinking of your animal first, or the animal's best interest. And sometimes people don't always understand that. So if you have a problem with your vet or you have something you don't understand, go to them and talk it out face to face. And tell them how you feel from the heart and just, never underestimate the power of just a good conversation and and a good relationship nowadays. There's a lot of huge veterinary clinics and there's nothing wrong with that. They're wonderful places, but sometimes you don't always see the same doctor. But if you're in a big place, request the doctor that you like, find one that you like. Stick with that one each time And I think you'll have a much easier experience and your pet will too.

Well, thank you so much Dr. Charlotte.

Absolutely. I was glad I could be here today.

And that's all the time we have for today's episode. If you are in animal rescue, or if you know someone that has a story that should be told, please contact us. We would love to have you or them on the show Thanks for listening, and please join us next week as we continue to explore the world of animal rescue.