Speaker 1: You're listening to Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2: Well, hello everyone, and welcome to our show. You are
talking to doctor Jeff Werber and I am your host
for the next half hour as we're talking pets at
ask bets with doctor Jeff here on pet Life Radio.
And I am, if not the only, certainly one of
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So if you want to go ahead and call in
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three eight five eight eight eight two, or you can
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because we want to hear from you. We want to
share problems you're having, because you know, it's interesting. People
are so embarrassed sometimes and afraid to ask a question.
But I can guarantee one thing that there are many
listeners out there that are hearing these questions and saying,
oh my god. I was going to call and ask
about that same thing, but I just didn't want to call.
You're going to find out that so many of you
share the same questions, the same problems. So I think
this can help for everyone. As a matter of fact,
we got an email from Kate. Kate is moving from
Northern Virginia to New Mexico and she has a cat
named super Mario, as in Mario super Mario Brothers, but
she just calls him Mario. And Mario is not a
very good traveler, and Kate was wondering what should she do.
Should she brave Mario in the car, either she or
her husband or her kids are going to drive the
cars across country or whoever's not going to drive, should
they fly him? And of course Nara nervous about the
flying as well, and I asked her, well, how does
he do in the car. Well, let's put it this way.
She says, it's about a fifteen minute ride to her
vet hospital, and this poor Mario is screaming in the
car the whole fifteen minutes. So you can imagine what
Mario is going to be like driving from Virginia to
New Mexico. I said, throw him in the plane, even
if you have to put him in the bottom. No,
we did explain seriously that you know, if you have
a pet that's not a great traveler, there are ways
that you can get your pet used to say, a car,
and that is that it's a behavioral technique that we
are first going to call to desensitize. We're going to
desensitize the pet to the car, and then counter condition,
which means we're gonna actually at least try to get
that dog or cat to like the car. So the
way we do it is again through positive reinforcement. You know,
I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement, and I'm also
an okay fan when.
Speaker 3: It comes to treats.
Speaker 2: When it comes to positive reinforcement, at least at the beginning,
I always recommend coupling the treat with hugs and kisses
in good boy, good boy, good girl, good girl. And
then ultimately you can set a ween off on the treats.
But to start, we're gonna treat. So again, what I
would have Kate do with the cat with Mario is
take Mario and put him in the car. Put him
in his carrier. However you're gonna do it, start the engine,
sit there for a minute, get Mario out of the car,
and then go back in the house into his nice
comfortable area, give some pat a little food reward, a
little treat, a little piece of turkey or something, and
life is grand. And every day you spend a little
bit more time in the car, a little bit more
time in the car. Maybe at first it's a couple
of minutes, until you get to the point where you
can go ten minutes. Now again you haven't even left
the driveway yet, but you're just getting your pet acclimated
use to the car.
Speaker 3: Then what you do is on the next day is going.
Speaker 2: To roll out of the driveway, put the car back
and drive, go right back into the driveway, and then
do the same thing each time, a little bit more,
a little bit more to you can go around the
block until you can stop at your local supermarket, ultimately
go to the veterinarian. But every time it's fun, it's reward.
It's hugs and kisses, et cetera. And most dogs, for example,
that don't travel well, it's not they might even vomit.
It's not true motion sickness that gets them. It's the anxiety.
So you could use like bonding or meclasine with er
motion sickness medications. People take them for vertigo. But the
key really is you want to control the anxiety. And
to control the anxiety, we have to make this fun.
So if you want it to take a long trip,
you have to make it fun. You need to stop regularly.
You need to make sure there's got some good bathroom breaks,
give them some good stuff in the car to play with,
don't ignore them. Keep them in a harness and locked
into a seat belt or in their carrier, or if
you have like an SUV, you can get one of
those like those gates that you put behind the back
seat so they're somewhat under control. And I would actually
hook their leash up to something. You want them to
still have some control.
Speaker 3: You don't want them running all over the car.
Speaker 2: And remember that dogs love to stick their heads out
of open windows in the car, which is fine to
a degree as long as they're tied up on the inside.
Is there and there as long as they're attached. But
remember that there is something called exposure caro titis. Exposure
carotitis is where the wind those dust particles hitting the eyeballs.
It's eighty ninety miles an hour. We don't go ninety,
go sixty divid to seventy five miles an hour much
more like. It can cause some irritation in the cornea is.
So be aware and if you want, maybe put a
little like an artificial tier ointment. There's some sort of
lubricating protective gel into the eyes before you put them
in the car and let them stick their heads out
of the window. They also I saw I'm not involved,
I'm not necessarily endorsing them letting it. I saw them
called doggles, which are doggy goggles. And I've seen lots
of pictures of dogs, you know, with the with their
sort of their ask got tied around their neck and
their goggles on and they're they're sticking their heads out
the window. So those can be protected as well. Now,
the other advice I gave to Kate was for Mario
is if you have a really long trip, it's gonna
be just brutal for you and for the dog. If
you can fly where you can take the pet into
the cabin with you. I'm not a huge fan of
flying animals below. Sometimes you have to generally buy and
large it's safe.
Speaker 3: You hear.
Speaker 2: Of course, the horror stories go online. You're gonna hear
the ones that died underneath the luggast compartment, wasn't temperature control,
wasn't pressurized whatever. Yes, those terrible things do happen, but
that is a major minority. People fly their pets every
single day. I've seen it. I've been at the airport
when people are collecting their pets. Then they do just fine.
So there are some things you have to worry about.
If you have a short trip for five six hours,
you know, like you're going from southern California to northern California,
take your pet in the car. But if you have
a cross country trip, I don't know which is going
to be more difficult, more challenging, more nerve racking, the
knowledge of being them being below or driving with them
in a car. Now, when it comes to pets however,
that are under the weight limit that is allowed in
the airplane, then go for it and you get one
of those very safe airline carriers. A number of brands
out there, so many of them are now airline approved.
You just have to know that you have to put
them in the plane with you. You put them under
the seat in front of you, like a carry on
a piece of luggage. You are not going to put
them in the overhead compartment. You are not going to
check them through the X ray machine. You have to
take the pet out of the carrier. I know this
sounds funny. I know you're thinking, oh, really, people are
really going to put them through And the answer is
sadly yes. So you are allowed to take them out
of the carrier and as you walk through that line
you can have them in your arms and then you
put them back in the carrier. So the carrier has
to go through the belt, but not the pet inside
the carrier.
Speaker 4: Not.
Speaker 2: As far as tranquilization, talk to your veterinarian. There are
a lot of natural calming type formulas available that are great.
They work very well. You can also think about some
sort of tranquilizer. I'm not a big fan, but they're available. Again,
you want to speak with your veterinarian, make sure you're
pet talers.
Speaker 3: That what I would do.
Speaker 2: If you're going to use one of these medications, do
yourself a favor and do maybe a dry run, maybe
a couple of days before travel, Give the smallest dose
possible and see if it works, because sometimes that's all
you need, just enough to get them started, to get
them into the carrier, to get them on the plane,
or get them in the car. Once they're in there,
then they're kind of acclimated. They see, okay, there's really
no reason to freak out. I got mom and dad
with me or whatever. Then you can stop right there.
I usually give people in the smallest amount quantity and
give them a few repeat doses just in case the
pet starts to freak. But I have to tell you
I have been lucky enough where I don't think the
pet was lucky once they found out I was a veterinarian.
But I've been lucky enough to sit next to people
randomly in a plane with their pets and they do
just fine. Here are some tricks that you don't want
to share it with very many people, but side attendance.
Some of them are really nice, really cool, and some
of them aren't. Suffice it to say, so, what I've
often told people to do is this, after you hit
the ten thousand feet or whatever it is and everybody relaxed,
the seat out signe goes off, you can take the
carrier and put it on your lap. Then take your
jacket or blanket and put it over your carrier. Then
open a zipper up the front panel, and you can
keep that open and stick your hand in the carrier
and pet and hug your dog or your cat, whatever
the case may be. And that's sort of they love
that one thing. Because this did happen to one of
my clients. It turned out to be.
Speaker 3: Very, very embarrassing. And here's what happened.
Speaker 2: She had the carrier on her lap, and she had
look chihuaba and she's got her hand inside the carrier,
and the chuah is relaxed, and she's relaxed, and you know,
kind of we're buck of that scene, you know the
movie National Impoom Vacation, where you know, the camera shoots
on the kids in the back seat and they're sleeping,
oh peacefully, and then it goes on Beverly DeAngelo.
Speaker 3: And she's sleeping peacefully.
Speaker 2: Then the choo Chevy Chase is driving the car and
they're in his head back snoring away.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, she fell asleep and her little dog decided to
get up and had to go to the bathroom. So
while the owner is sleeping, the dog jumps out of
the bag, out of the carrier, takes a walk down
the aisle. All of a sudden, she gets a nudge
by the guy sitting next to her says, uh, give
that little too while, and she goes, yeah, yeah, because
of course the carriers under the blanket. Well, yeah, he
just took it dump in the middle of the aisle,
So you want to make sure that this does not
happen to you. She was rather embarrassed, So while you
ponder that scene of having her getting up collecting her
little dog cleaning up a poop in the middle of
an aisle in first class, we're going to take a
quick break and we'll be back in a second. Once again,
you're here with doctor Jeff. And I asked the bets
what doctor Jeff here on pet Life Radio, and again
our sponsor is pro Sense, and we'll be back in
just a minute.
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Speaker 3: So welcome back.
Speaker 2: You're here with doctor Jeff Warber and you were on
Ask the Bets with doctor Jeff. Here on pet Life Radio,
we are, I guess, one of the only, if not
the only, call in show, live call in show here
on pet Life Radio. I am your host for Owly
my God, the time goes so fast. We have about
another fifteen minutes and once again want to hear from you.
We are live You can call us at eight seven
seven three eight five eight eight eight two. You can
email me at dotor Jeff at petlife radio dot com.
We want to hear from you. We are it's a
call in radio show. That means we need to call in,
and we will actually not just calling in, not just
get your question answered. We will send to you some free,
pro sense pet product. Will you have to let us
know what kind of pet you have with your dog
or a cat age, and we will send you out
an appropriate product that your pet will benefit and that
will make you benefit because let's face it, you keep
them happy, they're going to keep you happy. So anyway,
we're just talking about in the first half of the show,
how Kate was taking her a little cat or not
so little cat Mario cross country. We talked about the
benefits of the car drive versus the airplane travel. So
you know, anytime you're thinking of traveling with your pet,
check with your veterinarian. There are so many things to
think about, and as I've often mentioned before on our show,
is make sure however you're going and wherever you're going
that if it is going to be with family, if
you're I'm assuming you're not moving to your new home
it is the case with Kate, but you are traveling
because you're going to vacation. That if you're going to
go to a hotel, if you're going to go to
a campground, if you are going to go to a
friend or relative's home, make sure they know your pet
is coming. Make sure hotels know the particulars because a
lot of them on their advertising on the web page
will say pet friendly until you show up with one
hundred and eighty pound great Dane. So it's very important
to know. Are there limitations to size, to how many
knights they allow a pet. We're in the hotel, you
might have a whole separate area that you don't want
to stay in that area. So it's very important to
check out. I just came from the I was in
Kansas City at the Central Veternight Conference, which was fantastic,
and staying at one of the Sheraton hotels and they
called the Crown Center, and anyway, it was a great, great,
great hotel, and you know, I realized I didn't know this,
but they call it the Crown Center. Is not because
the guy who came up in the area, or not
because it's named after some guy named Crown, but it
is kind of named after a company and a company
that was founded right there in Kansas City, whose main
headquarters is Kansas City. And I'll give you a hint.
They're very popular company. It allows people to stay in
touch with each other. It sponsors some really cool stories
you might see on TV. And he guesses, well, it's Hallmark,
the greeting card company. If you look at the Hallmark logo,
it's got that crown on top. So they have the
big Hallmark main offices are right there in this area
that they've called the Crown Center, and it's really cool.
Speaker 3: There's a huge mall, of course.
Speaker 2: With a tremendous Hallmark store within a small Hallmark main
offices are right there across the street. And it also
connects the couple of hotels like the Crown Center Sheraton,
the Crown Center Western. It's a really terrific area and
it's so close to the Convention Center, the Power and
Light District. Anyway, you know, it was just amazed how
many dogs are in the hotel. And you know, again
not that I'm so surprised being in a veteran conference.
I'm going to see a lot of dogs, but even
at the Sheraton they were and good sized dogs too.
And I think you know, by the way, just as
a helpful end to anyone who is going to be
planning on traveling, please please please be responsible. Make sure
your dogs are good, make sure they don't screw up
a room, clean up after them, properly, take them out frequently,
make sure they don't bark. Because we are so thrilled
that there are so many pet friendly hotels that I'm
talking major chains of pet friendly hotels, you know, like
the Sheraton for example, that we don't want to ruin
it for everybody else. We want to keep them, you know,
kind of liking when people come with their pets. It
certainly opens up some avenues for them and it increases
their visitors. That many many people like to travel their pets.
So let's not blow up for everybody else.
Speaker 3: Anyway.
Speaker 2: You know, we are literally days away from Labor Day,
if you can believe it, back to school time. So
if there any last minute errands that you need to
do with your pets, now's the time to do it.
I know a lot of moms out there, I'm amazed
how many schools are already back in session. And I'm
not talking colleges. Colleges start like, gosh, you know, they're
starting down in the middle of late August because they
want to be out bite Memorial Day. And I couldn't
believe it. When I was in school, I was on
the quarter system, so we started late. But man, I
hated getting out middle to late June when I have
so many friends are by Memorial they were already out
of school. And my kids went to a semester school
and I was I mean, they were it was great,
they loved it. They started early, but they were done early,
and I think that's really cool. But if you have
any errands to do anything to do with your pets,
I always say that for some reason, we seem to
see pets more during the summer and even the spring,
And right now this is a bad time here because
everyone's so you know, preoccupied with doing the kids shopping
and getting everybody everything ready for school. And in the morning,
you're making the lunches and you're taking the kids to
school and whatever that the pets take a back seat.
So you know, don't let them take a back seat.
We're getting really close to the holiday season. We are
going to have ample opportunity to talk about the holidays
because I'm telling you, there is a lot to talk about,
and it starts, it starts around the corner, it starts
end of October with Halloween. We have a lot to
talk about. I'm not going to you now, and I'm
not gonna I know that we're as you're gonna forget
anything I tell you anyway, So I'm gonna wait till
we get a little closer. But we're gonna have a
lot to talk about between Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course
Hanukha and Christmas and New Year's so we're gonna get
you very, very well prepared for that time of year.
Just on a side note, I have been doing a
lot of stuff. I'm gonna be shooting a segment hopefully
sooners and later for Inside Edition. One of the things
I do a lot in my practice is plastic surgery,
and for some reason that's just caught the interest of
a lot of the TV shows. I'm doing a segment
on some life saving tips for your pets on our
local ABC affiliate here in Los Angeles, KBC seven. We're
shooting that tomorrow and then for CBS K cal I'm
doing a segment on plastic surgery, and then we're also
trying to put together a national piece. I'm gonna go
to New York in the early October to do a
show all about plastic surgery as well as inside Edition,
and said Edition might come in and film one or
two of the procedures that I'll be doing.
Speaker 3: But I have a really cool and coming up.
Speaker 2: And any of you that have spaniels, especially cocker spaniels,
you know that you are somewhat the slave to their
ears because cockers have terrible ear problems. Well, when these
ear problems go unchecked for too long, we start seeing
permanent damage to the ear canal. If we can catch
that damage fairly early where we're noticing changes but they
haven't extended all the way down into the very short
horizontal canal, we can actually remove the vertical ear canal.
We call it a vertical ear canal ablation, where we
take away the vertical portion of the ear canal, leaving
just the short horizontal portion. And that's in essence, what
we do is we take the canine ear and turn
it into a human ear. Now our ears have an
ear lobe. And then obviously the opening to the canal,
and it's a fairly short horizontal canal goes straight in,
which is why, of course, I'm sure even told the
doctors don't like you taking Q tips to your ears
because you actually can cause some damage if you're not careful.
Dogs have a much different ear canal. They have a
fairly relatively long vertical canal that then makes it turn
insight into the head into the short horizontal canal and
ultimately into what we call the tympanum, which is the
ear drama. When that vertical canal starts getting thickened, lose
its elasticity, prone to infection and inflammation. Too often, it
is very uncomfortable for dogs, and so we often go
ahead and we can remove the vertical canal, which is
what I'll be doing on a cocker span on next week.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: If we don't do the surgery and way too long,
then the disease is going to progress to the entire canal,
and then the treatment of choice is what's called a TIKA,
a total ear canal ablation. And unfortunately, with this surgery,
most dogs are left totally hearing impaired or death because
we've taken away their entire ear canal, et cetera. And
this is really really a tough surgery on them. And
though you know, I've heard many story that dogs that
have had tikas, when their hair is now covered over
that portion of the body that used to have the
ear canal, that sometimes acts as some sort of a
vibrating membrane if you will. Obviously not as sensitive as
the very thin ear drum, but it does an amazing
job in transmitting the vibrations to stimulate the nerves that
convert the vibrations into sound in the brain. And there
are owners that have sworn to me that even after
a total ear canaliblation, their pets can still hear loud sounds,
big vibrations, high streak pitches, etc. Whistles, So I think
it's pretty amazing. But if you have these dogs that
are having ch chronic ear problems, very important to get
to them sooner than later. Try to just do some
really great routine care at home to avoid any surgery,
and we have some great pro sense products for that.
We have a great ear cleaner, for example. But if
you miss that boat, or if the problem is really
bad at the very least, try to get to your
veterinarian to have that surgery done before it becomes a
total canal ablation, and you want to take care of
it when it's just a vertical ear canal ablation. And
that's what we call a VIKA vertical ear canal ablation.
And I know that don't think this only happens in cockers.
I mean I have, as many of you know by
now by listening in. I have five dogs at home.
Three of them are labradors. One is actually a laborate
doodle because he's mixed with a standard poodle, but he's
got the ear issues. And my two labradors, which love
to swim there, I'm continually battling their ears. And the doodle,
by the way, has one added problem that makes ear
care very challenging, and that is the hair that grows
inside the ear in the canal, and that too creates
a problem. So we're continually cleaning those ears, plucking the
hair out of the ears, et cetera. So we need
to make sure that these are things that don't create
problems for you. So you've got a lot today. You
got the traveling with your pets, how to get them
to acclimate to cars, to planes, the importance of planning
the importance of identification. And if I didn't mention, I'll
mention again that anytime you're traveling with a pet, be
it plane, be it air, your pets to have this anyway,
but especially when you're traveling ID in the form of
a microchip and in the form of an ID tag,
and many many veteranarians who also can give your clients
little cards looks like a little business, a credit card
that has a number with all of your pets information
on it, so in case the pet is lost or
you go someplace and they want to know when your
pet's last vaccines, where you could pull out this card
and have all the information or at least very quick
access to your veterinarians phone number and get the information.
And then of course we talked about the reconstructive surgery
that I'll be doing soon, and I will let you
know if you want to follow me on Twitter, which
is at doctor Werber, or on my Facebook page look
for doctor Jeff Werber, and I will be able to
give you a lot of information about where I'm going
to be, where you can see me, and which shows
you can watch to find a lot of information that
hopefully you will find very helpful as well. So it's
about that time to go. I want to thank you
for joining me here on Askdebat with Doctor Jeff on
pet Life Radio. I am your host, Doctor Jeff Weber.
I want to thank my sponsors prost Sends, pet Products, Walmart,
and we will be here next week on Thursday at
one pm Pacific Standard time or daylight time and four
o'clock Eastern time.
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1: Let's talk pets every week on demand only on petlfradio
dot com