Emergency Ready: Your Pet First Aid Guide with Dr. Charlotte Milazzo

Dixie: 00:00:02

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues, making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Thank you for coming

on the show today, Dr.

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Milazzo.

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Charlotte: Thank you Dixie.

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Dixie: One thing that I would like

to discuss today is pet first aid.

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I thought that would

make an interesting show.

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And of course, it's always better

to have a veterinarian's take on it.

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So just in general, first aid

what can you do if something

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goes wrong at home with your pet?

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Charlotte: Well, the first thing you

wanna think about is I always think

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about the ABCs of emergency, right?

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Airway breathing, and it's in circulation.

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The first things I always think about

are during an emergency if I can't think

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of anything else and my nerves have

the best of me, I always think A, B,

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C, when I see a patient in front of me.

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And this is the case with humans as well.

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If you come across a person that's

in distress, A, B, C, airway,

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breathing, and circulation, those are

the first three things that you need

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to worry about, are they breathing?

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Can they breathe?

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Do they have an airway?

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Is something stuck in their throat?

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Are they making noise?

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If they're making noise, then

chances are they're probably

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not aspirating on anything.

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Breathing.

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Are they actively breathing?

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Are they able to breathe?

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And then circulation would

be, do they have a heartbeat?

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Or they spurting blood out of an artery,

or, or a vein, which would be a lot less.

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Traumatic to witness,

but still a lot of blood.

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Is there bleeding going on?

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And if any of those three things

are compromised, you need to

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get to the ER immediately.

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There's not, there's some things you can

do at home first aid wise in those cases,

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but they would probably require you to

have some sort of medical background.

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But as far as home emergencies, there

are some things you can have around

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the house to help you with small

emergencies that might help you avoid

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a nighttime after hours vet visit.

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Like, torn toenails is a big one

that, that I see in the ER that really

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doesn't need to be an emergency, but

having some quick stop, which is like

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a a sulfur po like a styptic stick.

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Like, men would use for shaving on

their face or any, anyone can use for

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shaving on their face or wherever.

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And you can pack that in a toenail.

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Profuse vomiting.

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The one thing I tell people about that

is stop feeding them nothing by mouth.

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NPO means nothing by mouth

until they stop vomiting.

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An animal can comfortably go till the

next day without eating just fine.

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A lot of people wanna give them

something to eat or drink or somehow

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take an active role in the vomiting.

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You just need to let them vomit a

few times and get it out and try

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not to have them hold that back.

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Let them get whatever

they need to get out.

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If vomiting persists multiple

times or blood in the vomit, then

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maybe it's time to go to the er.

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But usually vomiting once it's stopped.

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It's like us, we don't always go

to the ER every time we vomit, but

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if we vomit continually for days,

then yes we can get dehydrated

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and end up having to go to the er.

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Dixie: Now I have heard too, when you

have animals that do have one of these

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vomiting episodes or even like a diarrhea.

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' you should feed the pet more gentler

foods after the episode just to make

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sure that their system can handle it.

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Like people, like you

always tell people to eat.

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Something like rice or oatmeal.

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Oatmeal,

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Charlotte: Exactly.

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Have a

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sip of coke and a saltine cracker.

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Yes, exactly.

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The equivalent for animal, although we

wanna keep them NPO, nothing by mouth.

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For at least the rest of the

day and into the next day.

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Like, if it's happens during

the day, don't feed them

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anything till the next morning.

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And another thing is people will want them

to quote, unquote, stay hydrated, but.

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They'll fill up a water bowl and

give it to an animal, and the animal

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drinks the whole bowl at once, and

then it all comes right back up again

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because of the volume in the stomach.

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So I tell people, you don't have to

deprive them of water, but just fill

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the water bowl just a little bit and

leave it out for the animal to drink.

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And then you know when that's gone, you

can refill it, a couple of times, but

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you don't wanna let them have access to

unlimited water that they're just gonna

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continue to throw up multiple times.

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And then the next day, once they've

had lots of gi rest, you can start

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introducing something to dogs or cats.

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Plain boiled chicken breast is

safe for pretty much anything.

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And white or brown rice,

everything cooked really well.

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I always tell people, make a jambalaya.

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If you're from New Orleans

or Louisiana rather.

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And you can feed that to them.

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And generally most animals will eat

and keep that down if everything's

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going in the right direction.

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If that comes up the next day, then

we need to start talking about further

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diagnostics like x-ray or seeing

the veterinarian for blood work.

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Dixie: I know on the last show

you talked about foreign bodies,

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Charlotte: uhhuh,

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Dixie: and that if a foreign body was

ingested, that's something that you

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definitely need to go to the vet for.

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Charlotte: Absolutely.

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It's a very serious thing.

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Dixie: What about if you suspect

your pet has had something poisonous?

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Charlotte: Well, if you suspect

it depends on what it is.

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There are different ways to react to it.

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If it's a poisonous plant,

it's a good idea to.

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Have a picture of the plant or know

what the plant is so that your vet

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will know what to do based on that.

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Also medication, whether it's

legal, prescription medication

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or off the street drugs.

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We are not the police.

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You can tell us what it is.

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You don't have to tell us where

it came from or who it belongs to.

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You just have to tell us what

your animal got into or possibly

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got into and we'll get the hint.

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And things like batteries bleach,

those are things that are going to be

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scarring and irritating to the mucosa.

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So those are not the things you

wanna make your animal throw up if

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they ingest, because it's going to

hurt coming back up and do damage

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the same way it did going down.

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So that's something you're

gonna wanna bring to the vet.

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But for the most part if you catch them

quickly, if it's medication like human

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medication or illicit drugs, you can give

them some hydrogen peroxide and they will.

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Generally throw it up if you've

caught it within the first 20 minutes.

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You want complete, gastric, emptying

things like chocolate or really

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chocolate's a big one, but also I

see people overreact to chocolate.

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A couple of m and ms are

not gonna hurt a small dog.

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It's the percent of cacao

that's in the chocolate.

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So for example, a little dog eats a

whole bar of baker's dark chocolate.

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That's a lot of cacao for a little dog.

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So you're gonna wanna

immediately induce vomiting.

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The quicker the better.

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If you can give them some hydrogen

peroxide orally at home and

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get them to throw all of that

chocolate up, that would be great.

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If it's been longer than a half

hour or an hour, then you're

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gonna wanna go to the vet.

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Or if you get them to vomit and

the chocolate doesn't come up, you

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still wanna follow up with the vet.

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One that I've had issues with

people over time are grape toxicity.

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Grapes , I'm not saying to

feed your animal a lot of

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grapes, but grapes are not.

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Immediate, immediate vomit

inducing one grape, one grape

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is not going to kill anything.

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Although apparently I have a couple

colleagues that believe otherwise.

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I have never seen it.

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I've never had a friend, colleague

see it where an animal has passed

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away from eating one grape.

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So, definitely not a reason

to visit the er, but.

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Again, this is why I also stress the

importance of having a relationship

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with your regular veterinarian.

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Because if you can reach them

even after hours, you can avoid

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a very huge emergency bill.

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Just by having a simple question answered.

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Dixie: Now, a new thing I've been hearing

a lot about is xylitol, 'cause that's

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in a lot of gums and stuff like that.

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Charlotte: Yep.

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That is a problem.

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That's something you want them

to throw up immediately as well.

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Anything with xylitol

is bad news for them.

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They can't process

xylitol what like we do.

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And so, Splenda, all of those packets of

sugar substitute, those are all bad news.

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I had a dog eat a whole bag

of Splenda packets once, which

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would've been pretty ugly, but thankfully

the people got the dog to throw up at

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their house with hydrogen peroxide.

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So generally that's something you want

to get them to throw up right away,

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or a whole bag of gum, like multiple

packs of gum would be a problem.

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Like a 10 pack of gum not 10 sticks,

although, a five pound dog eating

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10 sticks would be quite a lot.

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But, it's a per pound or per kilogram

toxicosis thing, but avoid xylitol.

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Also, people will feed their animals

pills and peanut butter and a lot of

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the peanut butters today have sugar

substitutes in them and not real sugars.

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So I always tell people, when you give

your animals things that are made for

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people, make sure it's not sugar free.

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So what about for choking?

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And I'm just talking about

just like a regular food.

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Your dog or your cat is

just scarfing down the food.

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And they start choking.

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Well, there's two kinds of things.

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There's aspiration, that's when food

goes down the air pipe, and then

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there's what we call choke, which is

when food gets lodged in the esophagus.

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And they'll start profusely,

drooling, foaming at the mouth.

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They can still breathe, but they're just

stopped up in the food tube basically.

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And it won't go down or up.

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And sometimes esophagus can go

into a spasm and will hold that

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food like a big bolus there.

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If that doesn't melt over a little

bit of time or with some warm

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water, then you need to get them

to the vet right away for that.

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If an animal's aspirating,

depending on what it is you're not

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gonna have a whole lot of time.

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It's like a person, if you have a person

that's got food in the air tube, you've

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gotta do the Heimlich maneuver, you can.

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Flip your pets upside down and shake

them a little bit press on the lungs so

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that the air can force whatever is in

their windpipe out as anything caught

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in the trachea is stopping breathing.

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And you don't have a whole lot of time.

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So when people call me and tell me their

animal's choking and they've been on

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the phone with me for five minutes, I'm

like, well, is your animal still alive?

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And they're like, well,

yeah, they're still choking.

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I'm like, okay, bring them in.

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Clearly they're breathing

'cause they'd be dead by now.

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So come on in and we'll

figure out what's going on.

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And a lot of times, some of it's

maybe partial aspiration of food.

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Where it can cause a pneumonia, so

we have to give antibiotics or take a

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chest x-ray and see what's going on.

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A lot of times that's the case.

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They can still get air, but something

has gone down the wrong pipe basically.

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Dixie: Now I just had a bottle feeding

class uhhuh for newborn kittens.

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I've never had a kitten aspirate,

but I've went over all the steps

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of how a kitten could aspirate.

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The correct feeding posture

and things like this.

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But one thing that I notice often with

the kittens when I bottle feed them

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is you'll always get that one kitten

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. They just are acting like

they're starving to death.

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They're taking that bottle so

fast that they will actually

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start coughing and choking uhhuh.

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So what I typically do is I will just grab

'em when they start coughing like that.

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I'll hold them up and

I'll pat 'em on the back.

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Yep.

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And that usually clears it.

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Is that the correct way to handle

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that?

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Charlotte: Yep.

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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If you have to.

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When we first deliver small mammals,

cats and dogs a lot of times

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they're born with fluid in their

airway just like a human baby is.

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And we have to actually, turn them

upside down and swing them a little

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bit to dislodge, fluids in the airway.

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So a little bit of gravity

really works a long way.

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You only have a small amount

of time to get that out.

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So however you can is gonna

be the best way to do it.

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Dixie: So another thing that I

would like to talk about is I

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guess like, respiratory infections.

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And congestion.

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And this would be if you have a cat

or a dog, you take 'em to the vet.

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The vet is like, okay, they got

a upper respiratory infection,

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gives you your meds, you go home.

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What are things that you can

do to help them along with that

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illness and getting over it?

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Charlotte: Keeping their face clean

and their nose and eyes clean is really

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important because the more mucus and

crust that builds up on their face, the

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harder it is for them to get better.

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Then they can start to get skin fold

infections and the, the bacteria

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or viral particles hang around a

whole lot longer in that mucus.

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So you wanna clear that

as much as possible.

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I have seen people use human baby nose

drops to help with congestion, especially

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in cats that are really congested.

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The little noses brand, I don't know

if they still make that anymore,

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but something similar to that.

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A drop up each nostril certainly

would not hurt to help open

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up the airway a little bit.

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Plain saline with a Q-tip.

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Digging out boogers.

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It, it works for babies and it works for

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kittens and puppies.

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Dixie: Now, this might be a stupid

question, but when you're gonna

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do the nose drops for a cat are

you gonna basically hold 'em like

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a baby and then drop it down?

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Yep.

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So gravity does its job.

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Charlotte: Yep.

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Exactly.

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You don't wanna force it in there,

but just put it at the opening of

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the nose and it'll make its way back.

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Dixie: What about like putting

them in a steamy shower?

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Charlotte: Yes.

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Dixie: That's like a

bathroom, a steamy bath.

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Or not a shower, but,

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Charlotte: yep.

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Yeah, exactly.

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No, that actually has

helped a lot of animals.

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They now have home nebulizers and

all kinds of things that you can buy

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for pets with like chronic problems.

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They even have you know how sometimes

for us they'll dispense aerosol sprays

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for asthmatics and stuff like that.

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They're adaptation tools you can fit

onto those types of aerosol sprays

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for animals now, like masks and stuff.

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So if you have an animal with chronic

breathing problems, you can ask

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your vet for something like that.

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Dixie: And what about like a coupage

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Charlotte: yeah, absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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Dixie: And coupage, can you

explain a little bit what that is?

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Charlotte: Well,

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Cupping basically and using an open

hand to, , I guess Pat, but it's

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a little more aggressive than Pat

to loosen up mucus throughout the

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lungs so that they can cough it up.

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It does work.

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It's a very old fashioned thing,

but it has worked and that's

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why it's still around today.

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Dixie: And it typically, if it's

working, will make them cough after you.

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Charlotte: Exactly.

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Dixie: You tap 'em, right?

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Charlotte: Exactly.

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Exactly.

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In fact.

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Sometimes increase in coughing worries

people, but when you have an animal

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that's really congested with thick

mucus, you want to hear that mucus move

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and start to try to make its way out

rather than just continuing to build

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up inside of the animal's Airways.

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Dixie: Another thing I'd like to touch

on since we are in southeast Louisiana.

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And it is really hot.

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Charlotte: Oh yes.

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Dixie: And really humid.

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Charlotte: Oh yes.

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Dixie: And really nasty out.

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Yes.

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But aside from that, is heat stroke.

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Charlotte: Absolutely.

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Dixie: So what are signs of

heatstroke and cats and dogs?

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Charlotte: Well, the first thing

you're gonna see is heavy panting.

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And most people at that point

know it's time to come inside.

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Especially with your brachycephalic

breeds of dogs and cats too,

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which means the smush face guys.

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So, they absolutely cannot

breathe in hot weather.

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So you wanna definitely

keep them cool, for sure.

318

: 00:14:59

But some things that start to happen past

the paning and the exhaustion is collapse.

319

: 00:15:06

The body temperature will

rise to obscenely hot numbers.

320

: 00:15:10

We're talking 1 0 6, 1 0 7.

321

: 00:15:12

They'll start seizing.

322

: 00:15:13

Or you might see neurological

abnormalities start like staggering

323

: 00:15:17

or nystagmus, which is where the

eyes go very fast back and forth.

324

: 00:15:22

And you may see them poop

or pee on themselves.

325

: 00:15:26

These are all signs that,

heat stroke is happening.

326

: 00:15:29

Vomiting also.

327

: 00:15:30

Generally by the time that we

have seizures starting, we're

328

: 00:15:34

in dire emergency at that point.

329

: 00:15:37

So I've lost a lot of animals that

have come in too late and are at that

330

: 00:15:41

point, and their temperatures are

106 hundred and seven, and the only

331

: 00:15:46

thing we can do at that point is try

to give them some Valium to stop the

332

: 00:15:49

seizures and start soaking them in ice.

333

: 00:15:52

. Sometimes it works, but

sometimes it's too late.

334

: 00:15:56

Dixie: Is there anything that you

could do at home if you notice

335

: 00:15:59

that your pet is overheating?

336

: 00:16:00

Charlotte: If it's overheating to

the point of collapse and vomiting,

337

: 00:16:03

you can get it into an ice bath.

338

: 00:16:05

You wanna try everything you

can to get that temperature

339

: 00:16:08

down as quickly as possible.

340

: 00:16:10

So if it's past panting and they've

collapsed, just, and you always wanna make

341

: 00:16:15

sure they're, they continue to breathe.

342

: 00:16:16

That's important.

343

: 00:16:18

If they vomit or start to vomit,

don't let them aspirate on that.

344

: 00:16:22

And you just gotta get that

body temperature as cool as

345

: 00:16:25

possible, as quickly as possible.

346

: 00:16:28

Dixie: Another concern that I have is

347

: 00:16:30

4th of July is coming up.

348

: 00:16:32

And I know that is the time of year when

the most pets go lost and go missing.

349

: 00:16:38

Charlotte: Absolutely.

350

: 00:16:39

Dixie: 'Cause they freak out

from all of the fireworks.

351

: 00:16:41

Charlotte: Yep.

352

: 00:16:42

Dixie: Anything that you can do

at home to comfort those animals?

353

: 00:16:47

Charlotte: Well, one thing I always

tell people, if you have a puppy and

354

: 00:16:49

it starts showing signs of either

thunderstorm anxiety or fireworks or

355

: 00:16:54

loud noise anxiety, the best thing

you can do is not feed into it.

356

: 00:16:58

And it's hard because, they're cute.

357

: 00:17:00

They're your pets, they're your babies.

358

: 00:17:01

You want to comfort them and have

them come to you for that comfort.

359

: 00:17:04

But a lot of times the way

that they see that is, oh.

360

: 00:17:08

The rest of the pack is also scared and

they're trying to huddle us together,

361

: 00:17:13

so this must be really bad, and so it's

this negative feedback loop or to where

362

: 00:17:17

they get worse instead of better.

363

: 00:17:19

And people think they're making it

better by consoling them or picking

364

: 00:17:22

the animal up or holding them or

patting 'em or doing something.

365

: 00:17:25

The best thing you can do is continue

to act like nothing is wrong.

366

: 00:17:30

Turn on some music.

367

: 00:17:31

Maybe play a fetch game with them.

368

: 00:17:33

Give them a few snacks.

369

: 00:17:35

It's important for you to

act like nothing is wrong.

370

: 00:17:38

And I'm not saying ignore their stress

behavior, but try to redirect it.

371

: 00:17:42

And now with some animals, it's too late.

372

: 00:17:44

They're already several years

old and they've developed phobias

373

: 00:17:47

to fireworks and loud noises,

thunderstorms, things like that.

374

: 00:17:52

You can still reassure your animal

by remembering, they think you're the

375

: 00:17:56

pack leader usually in most homes.

376

: 00:17:59

And, you want to remain calm

and not show any sign of alarm.

377

: 00:18:05

But there's some animals they just

lose it when these things happen.

378

: 00:18:09

So those are the animals that

you wanna ask your veterinarian

379

: 00:18:12

for something to give.

380

: 00:18:13

Sedation wise, there are also some

really good calming treats that are made

381

: 00:18:18

with nutraceuticals that are out there.

382

: 00:18:20

Vetriscien science, I'm not, I don't

work for them or anything, but I

383

: 00:18:23

just happen to like using their

products because they seem to work.

384

: 00:18:26

I think it has lavender and chamomile

and other things like that, that are

385

: 00:18:30

calming and sometimes at twice the dose,

sometimes those seem to really help a lot.

386

: 00:18:36

So, that might work.

387

: 00:18:38

If that doesn't work, then

you wanna go to your vet for

388

: 00:18:40

something a little bit stronger.

389

: 00:18:42

Some people try Benadryl.

390

: 00:18:44

Sometimes Benadryl will have the opposite

effect on the animal and make them hyper.

391

: 00:18:48

But you certainly can try.

392

: 00:18:50

Benadryl, the sort of universal dose

of Benadryl is a milligram per pound.

393

: 00:18:54

So a 50 pound dog can take a

50 milligram Benadryl tablet.

394

: 00:18:58

So, you can try that.

395

: 00:19:00

Sometimes it's just not enough.

396

: 00:19:02

Usually in my experience, it's not quite

enough and sometimes even with sedatives

397

: 00:19:05

from the vet, it's still not enough.

398

: 00:19:07

So you really have to make

sure that your animal does not

399

: 00:19:11

get disoriented and escape.

400

: 00:19:13

And also make sure your animals

microchipped so that if it does get

401

: 00:19:16

out, it has a means of getting home.

402

: 00:19:20

Dixie: And I saw a tip too, that if you

don't have a tag with the pet's name on

403

: 00:19:24

it, you can actually just go get yourself

a piece of the blue painter's tape.

404

: 00:19:28

Charlotte: Yep

405

: 00:19:28

Dixie: Just tape it onto their collar

406

: 00:19:30

Charlotte: Yep.

407

: 00:19:31

Dixie: And write all their information.

408

: 00:19:33

Charlotte: Exactly.

409

: 00:19:33

Anything will help.

410

: 00:19:35

I am a big advocate of apple

tags or air tags on collars.

411

: 00:19:40

That has saved quite a

few animals that I've met.

412

: 00:19:43

If the animal will allow it on their

collar and usually they don't weigh

413

: 00:19:47

very much in those silicone holders

that sort of fit along flush to the neck

414

: 00:19:52

around the the collar are pretty good.

415

: 00:19:55

Dixie: All right.

416

: 00:19:56

Well thank you so much.

417

: 00:19:57

Charlotte: Sure.

418

: 00:19:57

Dixie: For all of your insight.

419

: 00:19:58

Charlotte: You've got some

really good questions there.

420

: 00:20:00

Dixie: Alright, well

421

: 00:20:01

thank you again.

422

: 00:20:02

Charlotte: Absolutely.

423

: 00:20:03

Dixie: Before we end today's

episode, I thought I would go

424

: 00:20:07

over a rescue story of mine.

425

: 00:20:12

So just to let everybody know

how I got started in rescue.

426

: 00:20:17

I kind of got started the same

way a lot of our guests did.

427

: 00:20:20

You grow up, you love animals.

428

: 00:20:24

If you see an animal that's in

trouble when you're a child,

429

: 00:20:27

you're always trying to help.

430

: 00:20:29

And I was the same way.

431

: 00:20:31

I had a lot of different pets growing up.

432

: 00:20:35

I had rabbits, I had cats.

433

: 00:20:38

. I raised baby ducks.

434

: 00:20:40

'cause we had a place that was

in Mississippi on the water.

435

: 00:20:43

So we actually raised a bunch of

mallards to let go on the canal that

436

: 00:20:47

was by our property, which was really

cool because they would bring the

437

: 00:20:50

babies back to visit us every season.

438

: 00:20:54

And so they always remembered us, the

original ones, and they would always

439

: 00:20:57

bring their babies back to see us.

440

: 00:20:58

So

441

: 00:21:01

of course, as I got older and I

had the means of taking care of.

442

: 00:21:09

animals without my parents' permission,

I got a lot more involved whenever I

443

: 00:21:14

would see an animal that was in trouble.

444

: 00:21:17

So one of the first rescue

experiences that I actually had

445

: 00:21:23

was finding kittens by my house.

446

: 00:21:26

This was like the first thing that

really kind of got me started.

447

: 00:21:29

I knew the importance of spay

and neuter, and my parents

448

: 00:21:33

always instilled that in me.

449

: 00:21:34

So I knew that you had to go get

your animals spayed and neutered.

450

: 00:21:38

I knew it was a very important thing.

451

: 00:21:40

So every animal that I had growing

up, it was always spayed and neutered.

452

: 00:21:45

But when I found these kittens, at my

house, it was four kittens and the mom.

453

: 00:21:53

And so I remember I had to go

trap these kittens and this

454

: 00:21:57

is before I even had a trap.

455

: 00:22:00

So I actually had to go out

and try to just kind of devise

456

: 00:22:03

a way to catch these kittens.

457

: 00:22:05

I can't even remember how I did it.

458

: 00:22:07

I may have done it.

459

: 00:22:08

Kind of like what people do when you

kind of set up that, like a box trying

460

: 00:22:13

to catch a bird when you're a kid.

461

: 00:22:15

that never works.

462

: 00:22:16

And I think that I might have

actually done that to catch these

463

: 00:22:18

kittens, but it was four of them.

464

: 00:22:21

And it was the saddest thing.

465

: 00:22:24

I remember when I caught 'em

because , when we had 'em inside

466

: 00:22:27

in a cage, the mom was coming in

the patio room and she was so sad,

467

: 00:22:32

crying, trying to get to her babies.

468

: 00:22:34

And they weren't that, young.

469

: 00:22:36

They were probably about seven weeks.

470

: 00:22:39

And I still remember all of 'em.

471

: 00:22:41

I named 'em, it was shy, smudge mantu.

472

: 00:22:48

And stretch.

473

: 00:22:51

And I had these four kittens, and then

I had the mom coming around and I'm

474

: 00:22:56

like, well, we can't have more kittens.

475

: 00:23:02

And so I have to look into

getting mom spayed . And I

476

: 00:23:06

was pretty young at the time.

477

: 00:23:07

I was in my very early twenties.

478

: 00:23:08

I might have been 20 21.

479

: 00:23:11

And of course, I didn't have

any money to get this done.

480

: 00:23:14

And this was before a lot of the

programs that we have now for low cost.

481

: 00:23:18

So I was like, oh what am I gonna do here?

482

: 00:23:20

I have five of 'em and I have

to figure out a way to go

483

: 00:23:24

get them spayed and neutered.

484

: 00:23:26

So I did a little bit of research on

the internet and I did find out that

485

: 00:23:33

they had a voucher program at the time.

486

: 00:23:35

I remember I had to call this number

and you would leave a voicemail.

487

: 00:23:40

You would give them all the details, how

many cats you have, what they look like,

488

: 00:23:45

if you know if they're boys or girls.

489

: 00:23:47

So I went ahead and I did all that and

they called me back a couple of days

490

: 00:23:52

later and they're like, look, we can

get your kittens spayed and neutered.

491

: 00:23:57

It's low cost.

492

: 00:23:58

So it was something that was very much

affordable, better than me taking these

493

: 00:24:03

five animals to go just to a regular vet.

494

: 00:24:06

And luckily the mom, we were able to

kind of get her tame enough to where

495

: 00:24:11

we could kind of get her in a carrier

and we just closed the door real fast.

496

: 00:24:14

So that's how we were able to get her.

497

: 00:24:16

'cause I didn't even have

humane traps at that time.

498

: 00:24:18

I didn't even know about TNR

it was a very brand, new thing.

499

: 00:24:23

So I took 'em.

500

: 00:24:26

We got 'em all spayed and neutered.

501

: 00:24:27

Of course, we let 'em go.

502

: 00:24:29

The kittens stayed around

503

: 00:24:31

we could actually pet two of the kittens.

504

: 00:24:33

Two of them really

wouldn't let us pet 'em.

505

: 00:24:35

One of them got very, very tame

and she actually moved in with some

506

: 00:24:39

neighbors that lived behind us.

507

: 00:24:41

That was my first experience into.

508

: 00:24:45

trap neuter return.

509

: 00:24:47

, I didn't even know they

were gonna get an ear tip.

510

: 00:24:48

I didn't know what an ear tip was.

511

: 00:24:50

And so that's how I learned

what the ear tip was.

512

: 00:24:54

And, and from that point on, I got

very interested in, of course, doing

513

: 00:24:58

the trap neuter and return TNR.

514

: 00:25:02

So it was a couple of years after this.

515

: 00:25:06

And philip was working at a construction

site and he found this tiny, tiny

516

: 00:25:12

little kitten in the middle of the

summer on some rebar, which was kind

517

: 00:25:18

of like these big metal plates that

they have at construction sites.

518

: 00:25:23

And so he called me up and he's

like, Hey, I have this kitten.

519

: 00:25:27

It's in really bad shape.

520

: 00:25:28

And so I was like, yeah, bring it home.

521

: 00:25:30

So he brought it home, and I remember

we put the kitten in this little tiny

522

: 00:25:35

carrier, and the kitten was probably

about three to four weeks old.

523

: 00:25:40

So it would've been just on

the point of kind of getting

524

: 00:25:43

weaned , and eating on its own.

525

: 00:25:45

And this baby was so, so dehydrated.

526

: 00:25:50

So I called up to see about getting

an appointment at the vet and

527

: 00:25:54

at the time we couldn't get it

into the vet until the next day.

528

: 00:25:57

So I went and got some Pedialyte

and Kitten formula and I just

529

: 00:26:02

said, okay, I am gonna try my best.

530

: 00:26:04

So

531

: 00:26:07

for.

532

: 00:26:08

Every couple of hours I would go just give

this kitten like a little bit of fluid.

533

: 00:26:13

And, of course it was orally, I was

just doing some drips in its mouth with

534

: 00:26:17

a little tiny eyedropper that we had

and I noticed by the evening he was a

535

: 00:26:23

completely different looking kitten.

536

: 00:26:27

And it was really amazing

to see the difference.

537

: 00:26:29

And that was really kind of like my first

experience with a kitten that small.

538

: 00:26:35

'cause most of the time when I had

kittens they were a little bit older.

539

: 00:26:38

So this was the smallest one that

I ever took care of and raised.

540

: 00:26:44

At the time, of course, we did have

three other cats, so I was like, well,

541

: 00:26:48

I can't keep this kitten, but I'm

gonna do what I can with this kitten.

542

: 00:26:52

I was fortunate enough to find

a home for the kitten because

543

: 00:26:55

my neighbor knew somebody.

544

: 00:26:57

So I called up that number that I had

called for the other kitties, and I

545

: 00:27:02

made sure that I got the voucher in.

546

: 00:27:05

And after I got the voucher,

of course, took him in.

547

: 00:27:08

We got him neutered, and then

he went to his forever home.

548

: 00:27:12

After that, I just kind of got

hooked and it's just kind of weird

549

: 00:27:16

because, it seems like after that

the kittens kind of found their way

550

: 00:27:20

to me, so I found a few after that

551

: 00:27:23

luckily they had more spay neuter programs

come around, so I was able to get low

552

: 00:27:30

cost spay neuter, , and it was even

less than I had paid a few years prior.

553

: 00:27:35

So it was a really wonderful thing

that these groups started in our

554

: 00:27:39

area and these groups started

all these low cost initiatives.

555

: 00:27:45

. I'm gonna try to start including

a rescue story, the more positive

556

: 00:27:49

things into some of these episodes.

557

: 00:27:51

So I hope you enjoyed hearing that.

558

: 00:27:54

If you would like to support us every

single dollar helps our animals directly.

559

: 00:27:59

You can find a link to

donate in our show notes.

560

: 00:28:01

Thanks for listening.

561

: 00:28:05

And that's all the time we

have for today's episode.

562

: 00:28:08

If you are in animal rescue or if you

know someone that has a story that

563

: 00:28:12

should be told, please contact us.

564

: 00:28:14

We would love to have

you or them on the show.

565

: 00:28:17

Thanks for listening, and please

join us next week as we continue to

566

: 00:28:21

explore the world of animal rescue.