Critical Spring Safety Tips Every Pet Parent Must Know!

Amy Castro (00:00.11)
Not sure what the weather's like near you, but spring has sprung in Texas. And with it comes outdoor activities, spring cleaning, and other things. Some of them are fun, some of them not so fun, but all of them could have potential hidden dangers for your pets. So join us today as we explore crucial tips for safety for pet parents this spring. Stay tuned. You're listening to Starlight Pet Talk, a podcast for pet parents who want the best pet care advice from cat experts, dog trainers, veterinarians,

and other top pet professionals who will help you live your very best life with your pets. We also share inspiring rescue and adoption stories from people who've taken their love of pets to the next level by getting involved in animal welfare. My name is Amy Castro, and I'm the founder and president of Starlight Outreach and Rescue and a columnist for Pet Age magazine. I've rescued thousands of animals and helped people just like you find the right pet for their family.

My mission is to help pet parents learn all the ways that they can care for, live with, and even have fun with their pets so they can live their very best lives and their pets can too. Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk. I'm your host, Amy Castro, and my guest today is none other than Dr. Zhu. You've met her at least twice if you've listened to past episodes. She is one of our favorite veterinarians, and she is the owner and lead veterinarian at Family Animal Hospital in Friendswood, Texas.

which is where we take all of our rescue animals to get their loving veterinary care. All right, so Dr. Zuh, thank you for being with us again. My pleasure. I'm looking forward to the spring and summer, so this is gonna be irrelevant. I'm not looking forward to the summer. No? Texas, it's too hot and miserable. But I do like the spring, and I feel like everybody gets all gung -ho and excited about a lot of stuff in the spring, and it can be good and bad for our pets. And for our prepared, yeah. Yeah.

So I kind of did some researching about some of the areas that we might want to talk about. And the first one that came up was allergies. I know that you and I have dealt with a mutual person through the rescue whose dog is allergic to everything outside grass and trees and everything else. Dust mites, fleas. Yeah. So, you know, any kind of.

Amy Castro (02:07.822)
Quick or easy advice for dealing with pet allergies or how do I even know if my pet's got allergies? Yeah, good question. I think what surprises people is that pets are expressing their allergies through their skin, their ears, sometimes maybe through drainage from the eyes or nose, but most of the time it's actually licking their feet or scratching their armpits. And that's how you, it's your first clue that there's allergies, ear infections, like he keeps getting ear infections. He doesn't swim, why is this happening? Allergies is usually the reason.

And so yeah, that's the first thing. And the other thing to notice is that it does happen at certain times of the year.

like spring. Yeah. Some animals like dust mites, let's say you're allergic to that. Well, that's all year round, but some animals for sure, when those oak trees start producing on the pollen or the pine does, but your car windshield is yellow, your dog gonna start scratching or licking their feet, things like that. And there's testing that it can do on animals, right? Awesome testing. Yeah. Just like in people, we can do on a blood test, look for things like pollen, mold, dust mites, as I said, flea, allergies, even allergies to food items. And that's a whole other ball of it. Yeah. That's maybe not spring, but that is

is definitely gonna be on there. But it comes out in that report, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it is a very neat report, so you can certainly test that way. And then you have to kind of adjust accordingly. I'm assuming if my dog is allergic, or my cat, if I've got an outdoor area for my cat, if they're allergic to grass, I mean, other than eliminating the grass. Yeah.

And another point is that maybe they're not an outdoor cat, but that stuff does come inside. We open our doors or windows, it's on our clothes, you know, and we wake up sneezing in the morning from your allergies, they might wake up itching and shaking their ears. And so, yeah, it could be whether they're indoor or outdoor pet expressed on their skin or ears. Yeah. So it's definitely something to talk, you know, find out number one, what it is, and then talk to your veterinarian about options for treating, whether it's medication, shampoos, a combination thereof. Yeah. And, and.

Amy Castro (03:55.918)
you know, a lot of the medications are the same as us. One of our first go -tos is antihistamines, you know, from Benadryl or Tic or Claridin. Your doctor, your doctor, can help you find the right dose for that, but at the same time, you know, it doesn't have to be something super expensive or unsafe. Those things are very easy to get and very safe for our pets too. Okay. One of the things that I thought about and somebody had asked about this was we shouldn't just...

randomly give over the counter because not all of it's safe for our pets. Correct. Yeah. There'll be some crazy little nuances. And so you definitely want to ask your doctor about it, your veterinarian, because, you know, does this liquid Zyrtec have xylitol in it to sweeten it for kids? But xylitol is very dangerous to cats and dogs. And so it's just little things like that, that it's really helpful to double check with your veterinarian. Yeah. So be careful. Just like if you wouldn't just randomly give it to your child, you probably shouldn't. Exactly. If you have a hesitation, you know, listen to that gut instinct and that would be probably the best thing to do.

Okay. Now you mentioned fleas and ticks and things like that. So when I was thinking about, you know, the hazards that are out there, you've got the insects. Yep. So... The stinging insects like bees and wasps. Yes. My dog got stung in the face. She already has a fat, chunky face. So she got stung the other day by a bee. Yeah. And we thought it was because she got into a fight with another dog the day before. So we thought it was swelling from that. Yeah. And it turned out it was a swarm of bees that was hanging out in the tree. A whole swarm? Oh my gosh. That's because we moved our bees. Oh.

You have bees! We have bees now. How cool, but... That's one other episode, but yeah, one of them got, I guess, a little annoyed with the move and kind of decided to hang out in a tree. So they were chasing everybody around the yard. And so keep that Benadryl on hand for those emergencies, that's for sure. But yeah, we're going to see more of those in the spring for sure. And that's just being observant. You know, a lot of times the reaction can be just a red spot or hives or something like that, but...

Rarely or occasionally you'll get anaphylactic reactions like a person. And those guys need to go see the doctor for an epinephrine or a steroid or a benadryl injection to get in there quickly. But call first because they might say, hey, if you're already home, get so and so amount of milligrams of benadryl to start the process because it's going to take you X amount of time to get to us. And that can really help in a situation like that.

Amy Castro (06:09.486)
It's hard to know sometimes that it's an anaphylactic reaction. And sometimes, most of the time, I will say, owners will say, well, she just came in from outside to potty and then she just vomited and just kind of laid there lethargic. And that those can be signs of anaphylactic reaction. So, you know, that kind of detail is important, especially that she just came from outside or I let her out to potty and then she came inside and did this weird thing that can help us.

figure out what the underlying cause is. But yes, at home, I think, again, getting with your doctor for a good benadryl dose is always something good to keep in your doggie medicine box or a little sticky note on your refrigerator or magnetized in the refrigerator. Yeah. That kind of quick, easy access would be helpful. Yeah. And we're going to, we'll hit on the idea of having a first aid kit because that's something you think I should know that. And we have a lot of stuff for the rescue, but it's like, where is it? It's not necessarily consolidated in one kit.

Fleas and ticks, like, you know, I know that I've not had a lot of run -ins with ticks, but, you know, a lot of times people have questions about, you know, should we do flea shampoo? Should it be the sprays? Is it over -the -counter good enough? Do I need prescription? You know, what about these shots that last a long time? Heartworm, you know, mosquitoes. I know that's a lot in one big category, but. No, I think you have some good framework for us to work from there, and that is that.

There are a lot of products for fleas and ticks and it can get confusing like what's good for my pet and sometimes again, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but you want to probably check in with your doc. But some generalities, the older stuff that's been around a long time and we know these brands like Frontline and Advantage and they're topicals. Though they can kill fleas, fleas have seen these over the years and they actually become resistant to them. And so,

Often I find that if someone needs to use those often for maybe a financial reason or maybe an oral something isn't good for them, then sometimes we even recommend using them every two weeks because that's how resistant the fleas have gotten to them. Although they're labeled for one month, it's just the animals' genetics have changed over time and they can fight off that front line or advantage. So my recommendation is usually prescription oral flea meds. There's a bunch of them out now. They're all very thoroughly tested to be safe.

Amy Castro (08:19.534)
Anytime something is new on the market, you may get some, I would call it internet gossip about whether or not it's safe or not. You know, the best thing to do is to say, hey, my vet knows my pet and they'll know what's best for my pet. There are a few that you don't want to use if your pet has a history of seizures or at least safely introduce them in a certain way with animals that have a history of seizures. So there's that and that's on the newer medicines. And most of those are orals. They can even last up to three months.

as far as flea protection goes, which can be kind of convenient in certain cases. Don't you also want to look at, and I don't know how the orals work, but I know one of the things that I've run into is the difference between, does it kill fleas on contact? Does it kill flea after it bites? Does it kill eggs? Because some people, I've literally had people call the rescue to surrender a pet because they can't get this skin thing under control. But it's a reaction to the fleas and they'll say, well, I do X, Y, Z. And I'm like, yeah, but you're not killing eggs. That's right. Whatever.

Yeah, you're right. Really, I think the biggest thing is treating the pet and the environment. So the eggs, most of them are in the environment. And so that can be things like certain kind of sprays or carpet powders, things like that. Certainly getting a professional is always helpful as far as your environment goes. And I would say, you know, 80, 90 percent of the fleas and their different.

stages of growth, including their eggs and larvae, are going to be off the pet in the environment. So, yeah, that's important. And then, yes, there are definitely some that are more likely to kill a flea after one bite versus like 10 bites. And then the topicals in theory can kill a flea if they haven't bitten. So there's that. And it just depends. Like, for example, you would think like the orals, they do have to bite the pet at least once for the fleas to die.

from those animals. But the animal with an oral versus let's say an older topical like frontline or advantage will do better if they're flea allergic with one of those orals than they would with a topical because it just takes a lot longer for the flea to maybe get some of the frontline chemical on them and finally die. And in that time they've bitten the animal 10, 20 times, you know, in a short period of time. I think within, I think it's like within, let's say it's within five minutes or something like that, they'll have bitten the animal 30 times at that point in time. They're...

Amy Castro (10:27.822)
very quick to just shrun there is to get the blood, right? Get the blood, fill up and jump off and go and lay their eggs somewhere. Yeah. Typically is their life cycle. So yeah, so that is interesting that even though yes, a pet does have to be bitten for the oral meds to work, they still work better than the topical ones do, which, you know, again, is only.

10 % of the problem because you do got to treat the environment and the environment might be inside like carpet or it could be outside and you know, she loves to go and run under these bushes. Yeah, she likes to go and chase the bunnies in the backyard. And so you may have to treat that area as well. Yeah, I think one of the things that I always had learned too about, you know, knowing what comes into your yard to bring fleas in the first place like squirrels are big, you know, basically all the critters, if you've got four legged critters coming into your yard, they're bringing fleas and they're bringing ticks.

in an area with ticks. That's right. And, and I mean, there are germs within the bodies of those fleas and ticks that not only can cause your pet to really get seriously ill, like certain kinds of anemia causing bacteria, even things like mycoplasma, Lyme disease, cat scratch fever, those sorts of things can be carried in the mouth parts of fleas and ticks. And that can affect a person too. So you're not just your pet, but for your own safety, I think it's worth it to do some flea control and tick control.

Ticks are funny, they have this weird, sometimes every two year life cycle. So you may have one year just this terrible tick bloom and then several years of nothing and then two years later all of a sudden there's another bloom. It can be just because, and this is heart yucky to think of, but they can be living in our walls or in the bricks of our walls. They can live in trees and tree trunks. Let's say you guys get a new livestock animal even, for example, livestock carry them and certainly deer.

If you have any deer in your yard, they carry a lot of type of ticks and they can be in cycles too. Maybe depending on heat and moisture, you know, some years were more drought, some years were more or more wet, you know, will sometimes affect their life cycle too. Now I know talking about heartworm as, you know, kind of related to this, I know that there are medications that cover.

Amy Castro (12:33.518)
fleas, ticks and heartworm, I think. But I really want to address, cause again, those are things that people can talk about with their vet as to what's appropriate, but there's still a lot of people who believe that I only need to give heartworm treatment certain times of the year. And I think that may be true in certain parts of the country, but not here in Texas, and I know people are, you know, so you really need to know. If you've ever been bitten by a mosquito in your home in the dead of winter and you have.

because I have and it usually starts with this little buzzing annoying noise that wakes me up in the middle of the night and then smacking myself trying to kill this mosquito. Well your pets have to. In fact, your pets are more likely to get bitten because mosquitoes have a little heat seeking sense and of course pets temperatures are higher than ours and so they're gonna go to the pets nose, face and little sensitive skin before they even bite you. So yes, you do want to protect your pet all year round.

And mosquitoes actually like being indoors in colder weather as well. So they're more likely to actually come inside and bite you and your pet at that point in time. So in Texas, you're right. It's all year round for sure. And I'm sure in Alaska, it's a different ball of wax. It's probably different in Alaska. I don't know. Practice there, so I don't know. But I definitely, and then I've heard it's the same in things like Seattle area and the East Coast, but it is different everywhere you go. So again, talk to your vet as soon as you get a chance. Yeah.

You mentioned, you know, as far as cleaning the environment from a flea perspective, that's another thing that people do a lot in spring. They get crazy on spring cleaning. And I, you know, one of my recommendations was going to be, because I know we do this at the rescue, it's a time where you can open things up, air things out, drag everything out of a building and not worry about an animal getting overheated or cold or whatever. And really.

scour all your equipment. Yes. But we also have to be careful about what we do that with. Yeah. So I want to talk about like spring cleaning chemicals and stuff. Absolutely. Certain cleansers can be dangerous, but for respiratory or if they lick them up, they can affect their esophagus or GI tract in serious ways and hospitalization kind of ways. And then also you might be pulling that kind of stuff out for things like, you know, pulling out your ant bait so you can get those fire ants under control.

Amy Castro (14:45.326)
We've been seeing a rash of animals intoxicated by ant bait right now. Because of course you should put the little sprinkle and you think it's all going to be okay. And then of course your nosy little dog has to go and sniff and eat the little cute sprinkle granules, which are sweetened because that's what ants like. And so pets love to also try that out and that can cause seizures and tremors and other things as well. So yeah, be super careful about the areas that you're treating, that you're cleaning.

If you think your pet may have dust mite allergies or you test and they find that out, that's obviously we're going to shake up those dust mites when we're pulling all that stuff out. Oh yeah, stirring up the stuff. The Christmas tree and the buckets and things like that. It'll stir up. And then, yeah, I mean, certainly obviously things like bleach and Lysol and that sort of thing. If you leave it in the toilet, you know, make sure to close the door to the bathroom or flush the toilet before they go. Cause you know, my dogs like to drink out of the toilet. Then I'm sure yours do too. So that's a time where they often get intoxicated with that kind of stuff.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't run into that too much. The rescuers, because we try, because we're on septic, we try not to put stuff, but boy, you know, I'd be kind of the queen of leech related stuff. It's such a good client. It does. It kills so much, but nobody needs to be drinking it. It kills the people in the harness rooms to kill and more. So yeah, I understand why you're using it, but you're right. It can cause some respiratory and GI issues for animals. I think two people need to think about putting all that stuff, cause I'm terrible about putting things away. And the other day there was a puppy. Now granted the spray bottle.

only had water in it. Okay, great. Okay, but you know, I left it on the coffee table, a puppy grabbed it, next thing you know, she's chewing the nozzle off of it, so now I've got that plastic thing, luckily she didn't swallow it, but you know, if she'd have busted into that and it had been full of chemicals. Yeah.

or the possibility of a foreign body from the tip of that spray bottle all the way to the what's the chemical I'm gonna do to her guts thinking as it was water but you're right I mean those things happen we get busy the phone rings right in the middle of what you're doing so yeah just take a half a second and go okay what's this little troublemaker gonna get into and do your best to keep them safe maybe throw them in their crate you know the crate is always a great place to babysit for safety like you know what I'm gonna clean up this whole part of the house and you can sit in your crate with a Kong stuffed with something frozen and delicious and

Amy Castro (16:52.334)
You know, cookies and peanut butter. Stay there until everything is put away. Flush. We can eat this. Yeah. I was talking to somebody the other day about litter boxes and it's like at some point litter boxes, especially if you're using plastic ones, but even if it's other materials, it's just like it's done. It's scratched enough. It's full of germs, you know, time to replace. I think spring is a great time to say, yeah, does this is this bowl too nasty to rehabilitate? Especially things that have little.

crevices in there, you're right, or the cat nails have created crevices in there. Yeah, it's probably a good idea to replace that. Certainly bacteria can be involved or gross as it might be. Maybe the cat is fine because he's finicky, but then the dog has to go and lick out of the litter box or eat those little titsy rolls and then that might be, you know, if it's bacteria that's been sitting there a long time, really not good for their gut for sure. I mean, regular poop is it, but let alone it's been sitting there for a while, litter box poop. Yeah.

Yeah, I used to have a dog that used to like to sneak past the bed while I was laying in there sleeping. He'd get down on his belly and scooch and I'd let him get right to the edge of the door and that's it. I did catch you. So another thing that people love to do in the spring is plant things. My daughter Kelsey is notorious for getting really excited about plants and then when it gets hot, suddenly they're not so much fun anymore. And I will admit that I am one of those bad pet parents when we lived in Friendswood.

my entire back fence inside my yard was just a wall of oleander. Oh, okay. Yeah. Which I know is toxic to pets. It can be, yeah. And you know, I got completely, I never had a problem because nobody ever messed with them. However, you know. They had no chance of the potential. And we also had a saigo palm. Oh yeah, those are the worst. Those are the worst. So I think it's important that people realize A, what is toxic in their yard. Especially if you move into a new place.

And don't assume that because one animal doesn't mess with it today, because I've had that happen too, where that thing's been there for 10 years and now you decided you wanted to chew on it. I think that happens more than anything else. It's like we get complacent. I think it's the word you're going to use. But then we maybe...

Amy Castro (18:59.022)
dug underneath it and planted a little something there and they go, oh, mom's messing with it, now I have to go mess with it, because they're very nosy and curious. They're busybodies. They're busybodies. Or let's say that, you know, spring is good weather, people are traveling, family came in for Easter or whatever, and they're gonna bring their pet, maybe their pet puppy or their other animal who's not been exposed to those things is gonna mess with it. So yeah, you wanna be on high vigilance.

They have these neat apps you can identify plants with now. Yes, I have that on my phone. That's so neat. I love that. You can't trust it 100 % but I think for common plants, yeah. It will do. Okay, so good. So that's one way to do that. Yeah, a seagull palm, honestly, those are just basically they cause liver failure very quickly and it's very hard to get them over that. And so I would recommend just pulling a seagull palm out if your dog is going to be exposed to it. Oleander is very interesting. Fresh oleander is very bitter.

But if you trim the oleander bushes and you leave the leaves down, then they get a little sweet by the sun when the sun dries them out. That's when they become a problem. So, you know, still, if you think you have that much of a busy body of a dog, you know, get the oleander out of there. But certainly if you're going to trim them, take all the trimmings out of the way so then it'll dry up and become a hazard to your.

Yeah, it's amazing that it's, you know, it can be certain parts of a plant or certain conditions, like you said, it's fine when it's this way or less, less attractive and now it's more attractive. Other things I had on my list and you know, I think people really just need to go out and research what's in their yard because you're not going to memorize every single plant, but lilies are definitely something to be worried about. I know we used to have a lot of rhododendrons. I don't know if they even have those in Texas, but back East, rhododendrons were one. They have like a little cone of bushel of flowers on them. Yeah, like a little cone. Almost, um.

I don't know, yes, but it's a cluster of flowers and apparently those can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes even cardiac issues. And daffodils, that's another spring. Yes, all your lilies. Daffodils is kind of a lily, but all your lilies can cause tummy issues and of course cats are actually, they violently react to those, both respiratory and heart issues with them. So yeah, definitely don't let your cats around any lily family type of things. And be careful about bringing that stuff in the house, because sometimes you cut things in the yard, bring it in.

Amy Castro (21:07.95)
I've lost a lot of really good vases that way from my cats. Yes, I bet. But yeah, because they're going after the flowers. Yes, yes. So definitely something to keep an eye out with those plants. So speaking of being outdoors, my number five hazard area to watch out for was your fencing. That's something that I've noticed is that, you know, granted, it's pretty mild most of the time around here in Houston, but, you know, in some parts of the country, spring might be the time where you're leaving the dog outside or you're letting, hopefully you've got a nice safe cat yard, but you're letting the cat outside. Yeah.

And I think it's a great time to really test integrity and test the integrity of the fence. What kind of critters have been digging under it or it's rusting or whatever it might be. Do you see a lot of people escaping like losing their pets this time of year? Yeah. And the reason too is some pets actually have like storm anxieties and maybe they've been testing the fence before. But if they start to hear weather change, they break through a weak part of the fence and.

scary stuff, I mean not just losing your pet, but they can be hit by a car and all those things. And so we end up seeing them, well she's never done that before. And then the weather change just flipped on us, you know. Yesterday we had, last night we had a terrible windstorm. And as I was driving here, there was a lot of fences down. So maybe before you just let the dog out in the backyard on their normal pee break, especially after something like that, put your eyes on the fence and just make sure the fence integrity is good. I think even checking too, I've noticed we have a literally a brand new fence in the backyard, but things do start to settle and the gate is heavy.

And so the other day I went to, I had let the puppies and everybody out in the backyard because it was, the wind was breezy, mosquitoes away. And the next thing you know, I call everybody in and I see the puppies outside the fence. Now luckily they came to me, but if we were living on a busy street, they could easily have been run over. They could have gotten stumped by the, we always have to worry about donkeys. Angry donkeys. Angry donkeys that go after dogs. So just checking those gate latches, things like that.

And that's a good point as far as the integrity of the fence, because if you've got one of those wooden backyard fences and it's been there since you moved in, you know, 10 years ago, it could be right on the verge of blowing over and the next thing you know that they're gone. One weather pattern will change that up. Also drought can weaken the main posts of the fence. And sometimes drought will cause a fence to lean in. A dog will... I mean, if there's something to test, they'll find a way to test it. Yeah.

Amy Castro (23:22.894)
And especially if you've got a new pet. I mean, I've done this a couple of times. I think my friend Lori talked about it on one of the episodes of how, you know, I, she adopted a dog from us at the rescue and she was a real escape artist. And, um, so I literally, instead of just having her take the dog, it's like, let me come over and just look at the fence because I think sometimes people underestimate, you know, it's just this little space under the fence or you get a new dog and you think, Oh, I might my yard is fence. Well, is it really, is it sufficient? Because I've seen.

dogs go under fences that they should not. It's definitely cats. I've seen cats like my cat squeezes through and my blind cat squeezes through the gate going to my bedroom. And I kid you not like it's she's wide. I don't understand it. She defies physics. She defies physics. Exactly. I don't know if she's dislocating her hips as she goes through, but she's a slinky one. They do. Uh, and horses do that too. Yeah. They've been known to roll under a fence accidentally and go, Oh,

How do they do that? And then they'll just wander around. My pony did that yesterday. I don't know if she rolled under, but she, and she hasn't done it for years. And that's the thing you need to think about. Like, oh, just because it's been like that for years, she used to like to go to play with the donkey two houses down. And we thought we had taken care of all of that. What a social pony. Yeah, it hasn't happened for years. And then all of a sudden the other two days in a row, she's been in the neighbor's yard trying to get over there. So it's like, now we've got to do the whole, and we got a lot of fans. We have seven acres of people. So.

You know, but so I have an excuse, not really, but I have an excuse that I haven't walked my fence. But if you live in a suburban or a, you know, urban area, definitely don't get out there and look at your dog. Yeah. Make sure it's safe. And then also, you know, with cats, don't assume your cat can't climb the fence because they're pretty amazing. It's because of the fine physics. Yeah. I've seen them hit an eight foot fence, like nothing. And they're just at the top observing the neighbors. Everything is fine. And it might be until the neighbor's dog comes in, puts pressure on the fence and knocks the cat down.

and gets the cat, you know, so lots of reasons to be careful with that. And then, you know, I'll probably just stay out and observe a cat because they're nearly impossible to keep contained. Yeah. I actually had a company just sent me and I won't name it yet because I haven't tested the product yet, but a roller system. But coyote rollers. Well, it's it's it's different. It's different than a coyote roller. It's like a like a different design. OK, but it's like you have to it has to be a certain kind of fence. Yeah.

Amy Castro (25:48.526)
because it would have to be exactly what you said, the kind where a cat would leap and try to grab the top and then it's gonna roll away. But if I'm climbing a fence, then I'm just gonna climb over it. Go right over it, just to be told. Don't assume. And that actually brought up another thing. We were talking about plants before. You know, that little tree that your dog couldn't get on top of and get out now. Or the, oh, we decided to move the trash cans and now it just makes a perfect place for them to jump. Stepping stone? Yeah, to jump out. They're so smart.

I mean we love our animals but why do they want to leave? Explain that to me. They have it so good. I know. They have no excuse. But it's their hunting instincts and their territorial instincts that are just natural. It's not you. Even if they're spayed and neutered. Even if they're spayed and neutered they can still be a little bit territorial and probably depends also on the breed. Certain breeds are more likely to be hotheads you could say than other breeds. But yeah and it's not our fault. They're trying to run away from us. They're just...

curious sometimes they're bored maybe they want to go for more walks or runs or dog park visits or whatever is safe to socialize them and burn off that energy because otherwise they will find ways to burn off the energy in mischievous ways like your fence and other things. Yeah. Plants are not supposed to eat. Yeah well when we've talked about that too related to exercise is that you know letting them out in your yard they're not getting most most animals are not getting sufficient exercise so you know you got to figure that

yard after a while, they've sniffed every bush, they've overturned every rock, so it's boring now. What else can I see in sniff and overturn? That's good on the other side. And I do think they get a little extra little energy burst when the weather turns nice, you know, my dogs will go running out the door and see who can get out there first and run their laps or circles, you know, when it's winter it's like...

pee and come back inside. As quick as possible. Yeah, exactly. Or God forbid it's raining. Nobody wants to leave the patio. Don't want to get dirty. Yeah. But yeah, so when the weather changes, you're right. Springtime, we've got to be extra cautious. Yeah. So I want to talk about another one, another area of caution that came up was just kind of being out and about in the spring. You know, it's weather, weather's nicer. Let's take the dog to the river. Let's take the dog on a hike. Let's take the dog to the park. And there's a lot of, obviously a lot of factors that play into that. But one of the things that I wanted to talk about was the

Amy Castro (27:56.078)
you know, on leash, off leash. I'm not a believer in off leash. I don't care how good your dog is trained. I think there's gonna be something that's gonna come up that's gonna distract them or get their attention. Put them in the danger zone. Exactly. Yeah, if they're not paying attention to you and they're more like, I'm gonna chase this thing way across possibly busy traffic road or whatever it might be. Yeah, I would say that, you know, the first restriction is just your local law there.

Most of the time it's going to be leash required unless it's an actual dog park where it's leash off.

you know, let's say you're seven acres and it's not quite fenced in the first time you and your pet are enjoying that. You probably want to have at least something called a lunge line or a long leash. We kind of adapted that from horse training, but you can use it for dog training, for recall. And there's basically a super long leash so they can still have a chance to explore, but you can still send the signal down the leash that you need them to come back.

and then if they, that's actually one of the baby steps of training recall in a dog. And so, yeah, that's one thing for sure. As far as those laws go, I mean, I think it's pretty rare that you're gonna find a place that's gonna let you let your dog off a leash in like a public park or something like that. And unfortunately, it's not always.

like your dog is the aggressor or the problem. Sometimes you want to keep them away from other animals who don't have good social skills. And so that leash isn't just keeping them from being the aggressors, keeping your pet from inadvertently being attacked or something along those lines. Yeah. I would think too, also, depending upon where you live, like I know I've got a friend that just built a house, like I guess you'd call it the Hill Country, Canyon Lake area, whatever it was. I love that area, so pretty. And literally they have people up there that train dogs not to mess with

Amy Castro (29:43.024)
snakes because they get constantly, you know, and it's not that we don't have snakes here, and you might have snakes wherever you are, but there's an abundance of very poisonous snakes. And so, you know, it's, it's even in your own yard, it could be. They come at a hibernation in spring and their venom has been building up over time. So their bites are actually worse in the spring.

more deadly. So yeah, it's important if they have a training option, that's great to teach dogs to not do that. But you know, dogs are like five year olds, you know, their curiosity is just insatiable sometimes. And that's where you have to be the protector. Like, hmm, do I really want to let him sniff under that bush? Do I really want to let him sniff under that? Why is he so interested? Why is he interested? Why, you know, those body postures, if he's still and his ears are still and up and the tail is, you know, doing a different sort of quick.

whip to it. Those are all signs that he's found something you haven't found yet and you better make sure it's okay for him to mess with whatever it is. Definitely. That's it. Well, and then skunks too. Oh my gosh. Yeah, luckily skunks aren't deadly, but man, that can be a mix. People think that they know what skunk smells like because they ride in their car and they smell skunk. There is nothing like the fresh, it's horrible. Our Doverman Pantry got sprayed in our backyard. I mean, there was no, and...

before anybody even knew what happened. He flew into the house, across the house. Oh no. I mean, I would have slept with my shirt like this and I sprayed perfume on my shirt. I believe you. I believe you. Yeah. Even if you use, there's a lot of these great recipes online and for getting skunk smell off, but it'll linger still in their fur and oil for easily three or four weeks. Yeah. And the worst thing you can do is, which is exactly what I did was like, go throw that dog in the pool. Oh no. It's like that just seals everything in apparently.

But yeah, the point being is that there's a lot of there's, you know, we talked about the bugs, but there's a lot of critters that are out and about. Yes. And then, you know, even just hazards, maybe, you know, you're walking on the trail, your dog cuts its foot or gets her. This happened to my dog, Buddy. One time we went to I think we were Corpus wherever we were. It was actually his last Christmas. We went to the beach. Oh, what a good little dog. He got out and got bird. He was covered in birds and they weren't.

Amy Castro (31:53.454)
you know, deadly or anything, but you know, there's thorns, there's sharp objects. Yes, absolutely. Things you have to worry about. You're right. Yeah, I think you're right to plan just a little bit of like, hey, maybe a little wound cleansing kit. Maybe I did get that antihistamine dose for my vet and have that ready to go. Yeah, maybe something, I like the idea you had about some sort of maybe like a harness for your own body to be able to carry your pet in case they can't walk out of a hiking situation or a trial or a rural situation. That's a great idea. So yeah, maybe planning ahead for that.

And then as far as those wounds go and things like that, I mean, there's nothing like cleaning a wound right then and there, not letting it sit and fester until you see the doctor. Even I would assume like, you know, my dog gets a cut, so I'm going to walk him into the stream and clean his foot. Yeah. Hopefully you have a water bottle with you and you can use some clean water. Water bottle. I mean, I think something easy and handy to know is you can clean a wound with just very lightly soapy water, like maybe like one pump of a hand soap.

and to maybe about a liter of warm water and you can use that to rinse off a wound with. You can also use betadine, easy to get, you know, monkey's blood, easy to get over the Walgreens, CVS, pharmacy counter or whatever. And usually you'll want to delete that. So you can carry a little tiny bottle of betadine like this and then add it into, let's say, a water bottle and squirt that wound and flush that wound out real good. And then certainly wrap it with clean and dry.

bandaging material, not wrapping it too tight to cut off circulation, but just enough to keep the dirt and the grass and the pet from licking it. And I think you probably need that mostly if you are not, like if you were out on a trail taking some big hike or in a national park or something where you're not going to be quick to get to visualization to get back to the house or whatever. Yes, you're right. Certainly if it's going to be a minute before you can get to there, I would say like if it's going to be more than two hours before you can get to some help like that would be fine.

probably get a good cleaning in there. And then of course, keeping your pet from licking on it, you know, you may need to stop at a pet store and get an e -collar or something like that, you know, just to keep them from licking on it. The cone of shame. The cone of shame, but it works. It sure can keep you from having some major issues or even repeat surgeries or...

Amy Castro (34:02.766)
a limb, so they can be really important. Yes. So, you know. It is a good tool. Overcome the Cone of Shame fears that we have. Yeah. And I don't know if we said this, if we did, we can cut it out, but just, you know, I think brushing up on your obedience before you take any of these outings, because, you know, to me, like one of the most valuable other than cum is leave it. Leave it. Leave it. Leave it. Leave it. You know, that's one of the things. Leave it and recall. Yeah. I see what you're saying. Yeah, I don't think we did cover that, but I think that's important because a part of...

Dog training is really just understanding dog behavior. And sometimes, yes, you can train your pet to be good and behave, but you also want to kind of observe the other animals around and do you really want your dog to be involved with a dog that may be acting a little bit too territorial, a little too aggressive. Like for example, if I go to the dog park, I don't go right in, I walk around the dog park and I'm honestly, I'm kind of spying on everyone else's pets. Like.

Is this dog gonna get, possibly get in a fight with my dog, for example. Yeah. We actually did a whole episode on, so for those who are listening to this, if you did not listen to the episode on dog, what was dog etiquette? See, I'm like completely opposed to dog parks. They're very dangerous. I mean, honestly, I get a lot of my business from dog parks because dog fights and then there's the scary stuff. Sometimes dogs fight to the death, you know, unfortunately. Yeah. So yeah, absolutely. And yeah, dogs, you don't know the person that's got their.

got their dog in there. But you can encounter dogs anywhere. Correct. I mean, we see, I see it all the time. There's a lady that I've seen on TikTok several times. It's out riding horses in England and you know, it's the off leash dog. It's like trying to pack her horse and it's like, who's going to lose this battle? But it's dangerous for everybody involved. It's like, if your dog doesn't listen to you, don't let it off leash. Yes, absolutely. For sure. Yeah. Good point. I mean, there's these restaurants where you can bring your pets on leashes and they sit on the patio. That's a great place for an issue. So.

know your dog etiquette and what else, you know, certain campsites, things like that, public parks, you know, again, people should keep their pets on the leash.

Amy Castro (36:01.87)
But they don't always are. Sometimes the pets get out of the collar because maybe the collar is on too loose. They're not using a proper kind of collar, which it was probably covered in your dog etiquette episodes. Well, I don't know that we really got into a bunch of gory detail, but I might have mentioned, I think I've mentioned before about liking those Martin Gale, Martin Gale collars. Love them. Because especially if you know, if your dog, if you don't want to worry about putting a collar that's too tight or your dog's neck is bigger than its head, then you know.

No tightness of a leash is going to stay, or a collar is going to stay on a dog if their neck is bigger than their head. Yeah, and I can't tell you how many dogs Houdini out of body harnesses too. Not to mention, sometimes body harnesses don't really get the message to your pet when you're trying to give them direction, like calm down, behave, or sit still, or whatever it might be.

So Mart and Gail is one of the best ones for sure to get your dog's attention, but also allow it to have some comfortable relaxation time when you're not putting pressure on that collar. We use two things. I mean, as much as I don't like, you know, choke chains or whatever, especially nowadays, you know, there's better alternatives, better, better. We know better in many instances, but I kind of like that as a backup. Like I'd put, I'd hook the leash to my dog's collar, but also to that, because although the collar might come off, the choke chain wouldn't. So, you know, Mart and Gail and I.

harness or harness and a collar, you know, hook it to both. Yeah, I see. It's better to be safe. It's a double leash system.

where the leash actually goes kind of over your shoulder, like a purse strap almost. And the one hook hooks onto the collar and one hooks to like a body harness or an alternative attachment. And I think those are pretty neat because you're right, it's nice to have a backup in case one thing slips off or the other slips off. Yeah. Well that also on that same front, now we're going down a product rabbit hole, but those hands -free leashes that are kind of like a waist and sometimes they've got a fanny pack or whatever. That way you're not worried about, cause you know how you are, you're trying to take pictures with your phone. You got your leash, you got this. And then next thing you know, you're dropping the leash. Yeah.

Amy Castro (37:55.406)
And they're off they go. They go. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, definitely need to look into your equipment and you know, try it and test it in the backyard before it gets crazy. That's right. Yeah. Before you get out and about. So we're getting into our last couple of tips here. Hydration. Obviously in Texas last year we had the most brutal summer ever. And so you got to be super careful with your, you know, of course we were super careful with the horses and making sure they had plenty of water and the dogs. You know, when it's that hot, I don't leave them outside. So they've got but.

Plenty of access to water. Access to water, you could even have water plus something frozen, like you know, a frozen ice cube just made of like an old butter tub or something like we used to do it all days. I don't know if anyone does that. Or your milk jug or whatever, cut that in half and freeze that. Another thing, speaking of Texas weather is you might go out in the morning and it's cool and it feels good, but the clouds roll and the sun comes out and all of a sudden it's too hot to be outside. I mean, just...

Be honest with yourself like, hey, is this too much for this little guy or whatever it might be. The pavement being hot side. This tip should be more about hydration. It should just be like heat. Yes, heat advisories. Yes. And then certain breeds are more susceptible to dehydration. That includes brachycephalics, your smush face dogs. They have a hard time cooling.

and they're trying to cool and they're expiring all their fluids out sometimes and then not only can they get dehydrated but they can obviously get heat strokes. And then senior pets have a harder time with hydration and little tiny baby things, you know, anything less than probably about five months old can easily dehydrate. So if you have a young puppy or young kitten, you know, keep an eye on their hydration level. Cats are terrible about drinking water sometimes too, so you have to kind of sneak it in there, maybe in the wet foods or canned foods, you can add additional water.

if you know they're gonna be exposed to the sun or the heat. Yeah, because I've been contemplating, I bought the insert for my window for my bedroom. Ooh, like a catio type of insert? Yeah, and what kind of thing, you know, I thought about maybe making some tunnel to go to the aviary, but it's a pretty good distance, so I'm contemplating that, but then, yeah, there's that concern, like what if they sit out there and then it's too hot, or they're in the direct, even though it's got a sunshade on it, it doesn't cover every angle. Correct, when the sun is at a certain angle, it might blast through there, yeah, I see what you're saying.

Amy Castro (40:06.862)
Sometimes they're just too dumb to get in the shade. They are because they would rather hunt that bird like they can actually get to it but they can't. Yeah. Yeah, and yeah, they'll sit out there and that's the same for our pets. For example, those people will say when they come in for a heat stroke or something like that, well he just kept chasing the ball. I thought he would lay down and rest if he didn't want to chase the ball. Their desire to please us is more than their desire to live from a heat stroke it seems like. You're just like...

Really guy? And sure enough they will. They'll keep playing even though they're putting themselves in the danger zone until if they're too late kind of a thing. So you may have to tell them, hey it's time to take a break. Let's sit in the shade. Let's drink some water. Let me spray that water hose under your belly. You know they cool off real well if you get their bellies wet. Dogs. Cats will murder you if you try to wet them I suppose. But aside from that you know you can do fans, portable fans, all kind of things like that. They have these water cooling...

air conditioners? I think you put water in there and as it blows through it cools off the air and it cools off. There's one that's like, it's like, it's as if the guy just took a cooler and made a air conditioner out of it. But it's portable, so that's kind of cool. Check that out. But yeah, that way you can prevent some dehydration or...

water loss, but of course getting water into them is great. Or sometimes if they don't want to drink water, you can freeze chicken broth, low sodium chicken broth, make ice cubes out of that. Just something tempting for them that they'll think they're getting a treat or snack and you're really just trying to hydrate them. Yeah. So watching, well, and so what would be some, and this could be a whole nother episode, I'm sure, but like I know we were at an event this weekend with kittens and it was.

the highest temperature was 75. I mean, I don't even know if it was 75. So it wasn't super hot. But these animals, these kittens are coming from an indoor, you know, situation where they're getting activated. Yeah, it's like probably 68 degrees, let's say. And so we were really careful about keeping them in the shade and watching for signs of like if your cat's panting, that's yeah, again, cats don't pant. So yeah, so their little feet could do they also.

Amy Castro (42:02.67)
cool through their little foot pads so you can put them on, let's say, a cooling pad. They make these, they're almost like a very thin ice pack is what they look like. You put them in the freezer and you can probably keep some of those and they'll find themselves a spot on there if they're comfortable and if they don't want it, they'll go off of it and that's fine. That means they're cool about it. And you can use those for dogs too. Oh definitely, yeah. And they even make them like crate size. So, whatever your crate size is, you can order them that way as well. So there's that, yeah, for sure. And then again, you know, just packing enough liquids, not just for yourself, but for your pets. So, like you were saying, there's all kinds of coolers and there's all kinds of

kinds of special water, looks like a water bottle, but then a little thing kind of falls out. It's like a little bowl, bowl that tips down. It's smart. I love it and very handy, you know, so, um, yeah, I would say just prepare and plan ahead. It's a big part of that. Yeah. What about the sun? So I never really thought about sun protection for dogs. I have a donkey. She's mostly white. Her name is cow. She has spots. I did not name her. Oh, I like that name. And she looks like a cow with those kind of spots, but her.

And she was almost unhandleable for the most part, but her nose just peels and like that is not good. All that peeling. So we have sunscreen and I try to get it on her. It's a little bit dicey, but I never really thought I've never had it. I'm prone to the black black dogs for the most part. That's your black ones. That's kind of been my thing. But you know, I do have a white dog, but because she's a squishy face, I don't leave her out in the sun. And that's smart anyways, just because her break is a thousand. I never thought about putting sunscreen on a dog.

They do make dog and cat safe sunscreen and because they can get sun induced skin tumors like we can, I definitely think it's a great idea. And then even dogs that maybe aren't going outside, but they always sunbathe in that one spot where the sun comes through the window. You know, you're going to find them there when you come home or whatever chores or errands you run in. That's the kind of dog too that could use some sunscreen on their belly and on their faces. And some of those tumors can get kind of nasty and maybe even go internally if you

let them sit on that pet, so why not prevent it if you can. You're pretty much talking about places where the fur is thinner, right? Yeah, definitely where the fur is thinner or if they're just a very fair skinned or coated dog, you know, for sure. Like, you know, boxers come in white and they come in brindle and fawn and those lighter ones for sure, we do see a lot of skin, sun related skin masses. So I do think that's a great idea. And I just want to make sure that you said that there is

Amy Castro (44:29.358)
dog sunscreen because you don't want to put human sunscreen. I wouldn't use a person one unless I always make sure they don't use a dog one. Yes exactly. Because they're gonna lick it. Yeah yes and they're you know they have these new sunscreens that kind of they're almost dry on contact that's what you're looking for. The pet one's gonna be dry on contact you don't want like a sun lotion sun.

block that's oily or greasy, they will lick that off and probably you'll have diarrhea and vomiting in no time. It reminds me of when I was first trying to get the sunscreen on the donkey, it's like because you couldn't really touch her, but she likes treats. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, for those of you who are watching this on video, I got a handful of treats and a handful of like lotion, human sunscreen. I got to look into donkey sunscreen, but it's like, okay, I've got one chance to get one swipe. Did it work? Are we, you got better at it over time. I got better at it.

or I ended up with a handful of greasy sunscreen. Hey, you will never get a skin tumor on your hands. On the bottom of my hand. A little stinker. So, okay, all right. So we're going to watch out for the sun, get some sunscreen for our lighter skin. And I would think, well, even if like, what if I have a black dog, you know, like around their noses? Yeah, I'm still like nose and tummy. It's usually around the nipples and right on the middle of the belly. Occasionally on things like ankles and the tips of their toes. Some dogs are

black except for the tip of their toes, you know, that sort of thing. And I've had to remove toes to be able to get some of those skin masses off. So yeah, if you've got a white tip little dog or a very thin haired dog, the ankles are further down, I'd spray there too. And cats.

It just reminded me, my neighbor had cats that came from another country. I forget where they lived. But one of them is white and it's just an outside cat. They've got 20 acres. But that cat has had to have its ears removed from the sun because it's really not handleable. Squamous cell carcinomas are common on ear tips on cats and those can spread internally too. So yeah, they're like, you know what, let's just get the tip of the ear off before that goes anywhere. But yeah, I think that's a great idea to be able to prevent it by spraying.

Amy Castro (46:28.846)
ears. Yeah, we'll keep them out of the sun. Or keep them out of the sun. Indoor cat would be great. Yeah. Yeah. But you're right, some cats are just like, I will not. Yeah. Yeah, they are wild sometimes. Yeah.

It was cooperative. My last one was just to kind of wrap things up was just being prepared for emergencies. And so we talked about, I mean, I think to reiterate the point to have, it sounds like we need a first aid kit for the house and one to bring in the car. Like, that's gonna go in the backpack when you go. Or make it the same one and just make it that is portable. I've seen people use like little makeup kits and I've seen them use like little tool zippy pouches. They actually make them. Like you can go out and buy a dog. But.

who knows what all is in it, you know? But I did Google that the other day. Maybe let's look at a few and you can see some window. See what's in there. There you go. Interesting. And I think also you had mentioned some things about having phone numbers and things like that handy. Knowing your closest emergency hospital. For example, I have some lovely clients of mine that have maybe the RV life and they RV around the whole country. And before they get to their next destination, they already know.

They have all three dogs in the RV too. And so they already know where the emergency hospitals are close to them or the nearest veterinary school. Cause sometimes that's the emergency hospital close to you in some rural places. And so yeah, that's smart. And then many of them have asked me to help them prepare a kit. And so we do, we prepare some anti -nausea medicine, anti -diarrheal medicine, just things that I know are safe for this pet and with their history. So kind of like a customized kit based on that animal's history and.

Exactly. Issues. Embry type. Yes, issues maybe like they have joint problems, maybe they have sensitive stomach problems, things like that. So yeah, I think that would be a great thing to plan ahead. But certainly if you're going to create the kit just for space sake, maybe make it where it's the same one as long as it's portable so you can take it in the camping gear with you or whatever.

Amy Castro (48:22.446)
Spring break thing you're gonna do. Yeah, the beach party. Exactly. I'm hoping to have somebody on the show if I can find some I have a couple people in mind to talk about natural disasters, but just to make the point here that you know, depending on like we're in Texas. Yeah, hurricane season. It goes, you know, June to October. Yep. So, you know, having your bug out kit, having your.

medical records for your pet on a USB drive that's in your bug out kit. Yeah. Medications up to date if there's a storm coming. That kind of thing is important. I love all those ideas. We're utilizing a lot of technology in veterinary medicine now and so our clinic has an app on your where you can look up all your pet's vaccines and whatnot. Blood work is on there so that you may...

ask your local vet and see if they already set up some sort of app. But I would say usually 50 % or more clinics have these now. Yeah, that's a good point. So that is as long as you have Wi -Fi or internet, you should be able to look it up. So that might be something to keep in mind. And I think ID tags too. That's another thing people don't especially if you're the kind of person that puts your identification tag with your rabies tag and then they rub together. Yeah, you don't like to wear off. And they break off sometimes too. Like I noticed the other day, it's like.

Where'd it go? Where'd it go? The little loopy thing was off there, but the tag was completely gone. Yeah, I have seen some neat little Velcro type devices, almost like made of neoprene, like a diverse type of material to hold all the tags together so they don't rub. I think that's a good idea. Definitely marker chipping your pet is a very good idea. Making sure the information's up to date. Making sure the information's up to date, including emergency contact.

Some of the microchip companies, depending on which one you get, actually cover emergency visits in the sense like if your dog runs away and gets hit by a car or something, they'll cover some initial emergency care. So look into that, especially if you're going to be traveling. But yeah, if you have microchip, then even if their collar comes off or the tag disappears, they'll still be identifiable and protected and identified as yours. So no one decides to keep your pet, you know, that sometimes accidentally happens as well. Accidentally. Okay, okay. But yes, and microchip.

Amy Castro (50:28.368)
Chipping is super helpful. Identification in any way, shape or form is a good idea. Well, those were the tips that I kind of wanted to cover. Did you have anything else that I missed, you think? I think the biggest thing is just planning ahead. Most of this, what we're talking about is you don't want to discover your middle of a situation before you get into that situation. So yeah, plan ahead on your landscape, plan ahead on your, do I have that app that looks up my medicines and vaccines and whatnot? Plan ahead on your destination and where's the nearest vet hospital. So it's just.

Good planning is going to definitely be worth its weight in a lot of goats, yeah, for sure. Very good. All right, well, everybody, I hope you have a great spring and hopefully this episode helps you prepare for that and make sure it's a safe and fun springtime and summer for you and your pets. So thanks again for listening to another episode of Starlight Pet Talk. Thanks for listening to Starlight Pet Talk.

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