Speaker 1: It's Maria's MutS and Stuff.
Speaker 2: What a great idea on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Maria's Mutts and Stuff, and with me not
Speaker 1: only is my new bff, but he's a return guest.
Speaker 1: It's doctor Andrew Torsha from Heart of Chelsea Vet Group. So, Andrew,
Speaker 1: this is your second time on Maria's Mutts and Stuff.
Speaker 1: And I'm so grateful for you, so thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, second times of charm.
Speaker 1: Right, Yes that's what they say, but you know, I
Speaker 1: love talking to you, and I know my listeners love
Speaker 1: to hear you and all of your knowledge. And I
Speaker 1: thought it would be kind of appropriate to end this
Speaker 1: year of twenty twenty four as we get into the
Speaker 1: holidays some pets safety tips because so many of us
Speaker 1: have pets, right, so many people have pets and run
Speaker 1: into the holidays. It's so many different things and don't
Speaker 1: realize that there were so many things in our homes
Speaker 1: that are dangerous and maybe they don't realize. So I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: let's do a good deed and help people with that.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, just a couple of things to keep your
Speaker 2: eyes out for.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so you know my thought. Of course, Christmas
Speaker 1: decorations Hanika candles, right, those those types.
Speaker 2: Of my list. Okay, decorations is that I have a
Speaker 2: little list here and those at the top of my
Speaker 2: list absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let you go tell me which Christmas decorations
Speaker 1: and what.
Speaker 2: Yes, the sneaky ones are the stringy ones. Okay, So
Speaker 2: ribbons big deal, tinsel be a big deal, and dogs.
Speaker 2: It can happen to dogs, but mostly cats. So we
Speaker 2: call that a linear foreign body. If they ingest or
Speaker 2: if they attempt to ingest something that's string like and
Speaker 2: linear foreign bodies, they can be really tricky because they
Speaker 2: can implant somewhere in your gas for intestinal tract and
Speaker 2: then part of it starts to track down your intestines,
Speaker 2: but the other part doesn't, so the intest do not
Speaker 2: enjoy that. Yeah, be really serious.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's of course. Uh Now, my I don't
Speaker 1: really know too many dogs. I mean, I do know
Speaker 1: dogs that have knocked down Christmas trees. But my thought is,
Speaker 1: if you put up a Christmas tree and you put tinsel,
Speaker 1: and you have a cat, what would stop, right?
Speaker 2: A cat? You enlightening them over? Yeah, shiny, they're just
Speaker 2: a little gust of wind and they're moving. Sure, the
Speaker 2: cat toy.
Speaker 1: So probably the best thing if you do have a
Speaker 1: cat is not to put tinsel on your tree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would honestly avoid it. Yeah, I've had to
Speaker 2: do surgery for that specifically.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, and yeah, no I get that. And Garland,
Speaker 1: I would say, goes along with that too, right because
Speaker 1: it's shiny and yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, and Riven from Presents, Yeah that's huge. Yeah
Speaker 2: in that too. Yeah, little pieces you can usually be okay,
Speaker 2: tiny little pieces less than an inch. That doesn't scare
Speaker 2: me at all. It's a really longer one.
Speaker 3: Right, So you know what.
Speaker 1: Another thought to that is, say you're hosting the holiday,
Speaker 1: it's Christmas Day and you have all these people over
Speaker 1: and kids, and everybody's opening presents going nuts. Pay attention
Speaker 1: to opening presents and everybody going nuts because there could
Speaker 1: be big long pieces of ribbon that you're taking off gifts.
Speaker 1: So that's a good point.
Speaker 2: Andrew, thank you certainly.
Speaker 3: Okay, tell me what else is on your list?
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of opening gifts, having people over, the guests
Speaker 2: just kind of have to look out for what guests
Speaker 2: may provide for these cute little angels that they want
Speaker 2: to give random things like a piece of chicken, or
Speaker 2: maybe sometimes give the dog a bone, quote unquote, but
Speaker 2: a lot of times you shouldn't be given the dog
Speaker 2: a bone. Chicken bones are not good. They splinter really easily,
Speaker 2: and so they can be unpleasant to try and digest those.
Speaker 2: So just watch out for the guests visiting, letting them know,
Speaker 2: get things approved if we're going to try and give
Speaker 2: a little bit of fun table scraps. I get why
Speaker 2: people do that. I mean, you have a dog for
Speaker 2: a reason. I got your dog. I'm Italian. I'm feeding
Speaker 2: his happiness. Of course, I'm with you, of course, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you do One thing that, yeah, I specifically say with
Speaker 2: guests is dental floss. Make sure they put dental floss
Speaker 2: in a covered trash can instead of an open bathroom
Speaker 2: low to the ground. I mean that dental floss smells good.
Speaker 1: That's true, you're so smart, says that's your sneaky and
Speaker 1: stringy thing.
Speaker 3: I didn't even I would never think of dental floss.
Speaker 3: But of course, and it smells good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it smells good. I guess that's how we'll phrase it.
Speaker 1: It smells good, it smells good, and it's string it's
Speaker 1: a long string. Yeah, that would be not good at all.
Speaker 1: You're so smart. Yes, I love talking to you.
Speaker 2: You are okay a little bit. It's been eighteen years
Speaker 2: in the betfield, so I've seen a couple of things here,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Think, yeah, I think you're pretty well versed. You know
Speaker 3: what you're doing. You know.
Speaker 1: Okay, so nice. No, but I'm telling the truth. I
Speaker 1: never lie, you know that.
Speaker 3: So okay.
Speaker 1: So we have the decorations like ribbons and tinsel and garland,
Speaker 1: do we have the guests? So you kind of have
Speaker 1: to warn your guests and tell them. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I remember back in you know, years ago, having like
Speaker 1: a New Year's Eve party and you know, and and
Speaker 1: don't feed my dog. And then also one of my
Speaker 1: friends is like feeding my dog and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I will never invite you again.
Speaker 3: Because you know, people don't listen.
Speaker 1: But you're right. They feel like, oh, you know, he
Speaker 1: was asked my favorite and thing.
Speaker 3: They I could just.
Speaker 1: Tell by the way he was looking at me he
Speaker 1: wanted something. It's like he's a dog. They know how
Speaker 1: to do that.
Speaker 2: Play you right, solutally, that's their whole purpose. You can
Speaker 2: even have you can be prophylactic with it. You can
Speaker 2: have like here's the dog treats. Yes, it's decorated holiday
Speaker 2: dog treat canister. If he's given you those eyes, these
Speaker 2: are approved, correct, Not what's on your plate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's very smart.
Speaker 1: That's actually a very a good way to be proactive
Speaker 1: and make sure your guests don't do the wrong thing.
Speaker 3: That's smart. See, you are smart.
Speaker 2: Give him an option, an option to reach for.
Speaker 3: Options are always good. Options are always good.
Speaker 1: Are what about I'm alcoholic drinks as New Year's comes
Speaker 1: in champagne and all those bubbly things not good for
Speaker 1: cats or dogs?
Speaker 2: Right, No, No, not good at all. I did see
Speaker 2: an ad once or cat wine and I looked at
Speaker 2: the ingredients and it's cat wine specifically, and the ingredients
Speaker 2: were fine. So if you want to buy animal specific again,
Speaker 2: be prophylact to give them an option. Sure, my animal wine,
Speaker 2: it's not really wine. It's not really wine, right, But
Speaker 2: if you want to have fun, just prepare.
Speaker 3: Right, right, because I think years ago I'm sure they
Speaker 3: still have it.
Speaker 1: They were like bars that had dog beer, but they
Speaker 1: were made they was it wasn't made out of beer.
Speaker 1: It was the same thing like cat wine. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was like whatever ingredients that were safe. Yeah, yeah, so
Speaker 1: what about.
Speaker 2: It's fun to make that stuff for them. It's fun
Speaker 2: to make that ahead of time. Sure, and so if
Speaker 2: you just prepare, you can sure you can give them
Speaker 2: something a little as a little fun treat.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's the right thing, right, don't give them
Speaker 1: real wine or real beer. And of course champagne is
Speaker 1: just as bad obviously, and wine and yeah correct and
Speaker 1: all those yeah yeah, yeah okay, and regular hard liquor
Speaker 1: also not good for cats.
Speaker 2: Or dogs, absolutely not.
Speaker 1: Okay, So like it's the big X across all of
Speaker 1: those things, except the stuff that's made for cats and
Speaker 1: dogs with a good.
Speaker 2: Ingredients and save save the milk and cookies for Santa.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's another thing that's right, because cats don't
Speaker 1: really milk isn't good for them?
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 2: No? No, no, storytales have really made people think that
Speaker 2: cats drink milk, but they don't handle milk well at all. Yeah. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's too many trips at litter box after that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh so are cats and this is a stupid question,
Speaker 1: are I guess they're lactose intolerant?
Speaker 3: Do they eat cheese?
Speaker 2: For cow's milk. I'm sure they can probably stuff. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't risk it personally. One thing that on my list
Speaker 2: is variance is just it just makes things difficult. I
Speaker 2: try to limit variants as much as possible. So that
Speaker 2: includes like, if you're going to buy something fun for
Speaker 2: them for the holidays, try and stick to a protein
Speaker 2: source that they're used to. If you're dogs on a
Speaker 2: beef based diet, get a beef based treat instead of
Speaker 2: grabbing these variety packs with a whole bunch of different
Speaker 2: meats or flavors or such in the bag. Sure they
Speaker 2: humans get a little bit excited about variants, but dogs don't.
Speaker 2: They just get excited that they're eating. Well, they don't
Speaker 2: mean yeah, all of this, like all these new different
Speaker 2: treats from different sources, that'll just line them up for
Speaker 2: probably no success.
Speaker 3: No, you're right. You know it's so funny. You really
Speaker 3: hit the nail on the head again. It's true.
Speaker 1: Humans get excited about variety packs. It's true, right, like,
Speaker 1: oh cool, it's all different thigs I'm getting. But animals
Speaker 1: are like whatever, yeah, right, that's so clever that Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 3: Oh these are.
Speaker 2: Reward isn't higher because it's different. The reward is just
Speaker 2: choose something you know they love and that fits well
Speaker 2: with them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes sense.
Speaker 1: What about as we get towards New Year's Eve and
Speaker 1: noise and fire works and crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, travel, travel and noise so anxieties with mostly dogs.
Speaker 2: I mean cats too, but they tend to be good
Speaker 2: self regulators and find in finding hiding spots. But travel
Speaker 2: and noise can really be a really, really big phobia
Speaker 2: for dogs. And so with the noise, you can do
Speaker 2: things like have the lines shut, you can put other
Speaker 2: noises on, like the television, make sure that they have
Speaker 2: a safe space that they can go to. A lot
Speaker 2: of people know their dog is noise responsive and can
Speaker 2: be preventive with it by talking to your veterinarian about
Speaker 2: medication that you might be able to try ahead of time.
Speaker 2: And people have they struggle with that sometimes because there
Speaker 2: are these connotations that a lot of people have with
Speaker 2: giving their dogs meds or things like prozac or a sedative.
Speaker 2: There are the negative connotations, and I don't want a
Speaker 2: dog to be medicated if they don't need to. But
Speaker 2: just think about a potential alternative where instead of them
Speaker 2: full body trembling trying to get under a bed. They
Speaker 2: are just relaxed in their napping and they can still
Speaker 2: lift their head and they can walk around. They just
Speaker 2: aren't experiencing the stress event, right, So it's worth a shot.
Speaker 2: Just start work with your vet, start at a relatively
Speaker 2: low dose, and just give it a trial before the
Speaker 2: fireworks happen, and that can help you hopefully achieve success there. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I mean I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 1: And you really hit the nail on the head because
Speaker 1: I don't know why it has like a negative connotation.
Speaker 1: You're not drugging your animal, right, You're doing what's best
Speaker 1: for the animal especially you know, obviously if you really
Speaker 1: were that concerned, you won't be having a party. But okay,
Speaker 1: you are having the party anyway, so you need to
Speaker 1: think of your animals before. So yeah, no, that's a
Speaker 1: very very good point. All very good points, Andrew. I
Speaker 1: love these, No, these are these are great tips. And
Speaker 1: I mean you I had a list. You had a list.
Speaker 1: You covered everything that I was I was concerned about, decorations, foods, drinks, company, noise.
Speaker 3: Am I missing something?
Speaker 2: Point setters? Hopefully people know that, Yes.
Speaker 3: That's my plants, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yeah they can. It's not a myth that
Speaker 2: some of these plants are life threateningly toxic. Some animals
Speaker 2: I've lilies are really they should not interact with cats
Speaker 2: in any way, even the pollen from a lily. Crazy.
Speaker 3: But no, not at all.
Speaker 2: Physically seen it happen. I've been present seeing it happen.
Speaker 2: So if you're going to send someone flowers, look up
Speaker 2: what's in the flowers before you send them if they
Speaker 2: have a pet. Yeah, and uh, point setters. If I
Speaker 2: had a cat, I just wouldn't have a point set
Speaker 2: in the house.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's very smart.
Speaker 1: And are those really the two most lethal of point
Speaker 1: set is in lily?
Speaker 2: Or they are set and lilies? Those are the two, okay?
Speaker 3: And which brings me to live Christmas trees?
Speaker 1: The pine needles if because I know sometimes dogs like
Speaker 1: to eat those.
Speaker 2: Haven't it could upset their stomach? Haven't seen personally, haven't
Speaker 2: seen that cause any really substantial problem. Pine cones are terrible.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but pine pine needles, I wouldn't. It wouldn't
Speaker 2: be an emergency situation in my opinion.
Speaker 1: Chewing on it because it smells good and you know
Speaker 1: they like the tickle of the prickly whatever on their right.
Speaker 3: Because dogs make me laugh.
Speaker 1: And also for cats too, if they eat some pine
Speaker 1: needles needles not cones, that's also okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tiny little piece, haven't seen any problem with that.
Speaker 2: Any plant can upset the stomach. Sure, I haven't had
Speaker 2: that experience yet. There's the SCCI has a really really
Speaker 2: good pet poisoned helplied really good, yes, like nationally acclaimed
Speaker 2: good they have. It's really cool because they have toxicologists
Speaker 2: on staff, and those toxicologists are of course specifically trained
Speaker 2: in animal welfare and animal health, and a bunch of
Speaker 2: companies will release the recipes with the exact quantity of
Speaker 2: ingredient to the ASCCA, where the general public can't get
Speaker 2: that information. So if you're concerned about a toxicity, as
Speaker 2: CCA probably has more information than you can get online,
Speaker 2: not to tell you if it's an emergency situation or not, right, which.
Speaker 1: Is good, which is good because God forbid, as much
Speaker 1: as you could be, as much as you prepare, sometimes
Speaker 1: things happen.
Speaker 3: You know, it's life, right, Things happen.
Speaker 1: Things are hectic, it's a holiday, there are people, there
Speaker 1: are kids, and oh no, the dog got into this,
Speaker 1: so that's that's a very good point.
Speaker 3: So well, these are great, These are these are really great.
Speaker 1: I think you gave such good you know, good advice
Speaker 1: and good tips for everyone.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I think I think you're great. You're great.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for caring so much well about
Speaker 2: these animals.
Speaker 1: Of course, and thank you because I know you're in
Speaker 1: the middle of your workday and you took time out
Speaker 1: to share your knowledge with me and my listeners, and
Speaker 1: we do appreciate you. And of course from the heart
Speaker 1: of Chelsea Vet Group and you can see at heart
Speaker 1: off Chelsea dot com. Doctor Andrew Torsha, you are the best.
Speaker 1: We will definitely talk again next year because I will
Speaker 1: find some reason to talk with you again because you're
Speaker 1: full of knowledge and I like to make you share it.
Speaker 3: So thank you every day day you say that, but
Speaker 3: so thank you and have a great holiday and happy
Speaker 3: New Year.
Speaker 2: Thank you too.