Speaker 1: Live. This is Pet Life Radio. Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2: Hello, be lying friends, Welcome to Cata Tude. I'm your
show host Michelle Furn. I have an exciting guest today
who is from Zoettas and Zoettis has created a breed Explorer.
Have you ever wondered what kind of cat is best
for me? Well check out their breed Explore because it
tells you all kinds of things about the type of
cat that would sell best for you and fit your lifestyle.
Stay tuned, we'll be right back.
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Speaker 4: Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome my guest today,
doctor Heather First. She is the medical lead at Zoetis,
who is the global leader in animal health, and we're
going to talk about the Zoettis reed Explore. Welcome, doctor Heather.
I'm so happy to have you on the show. Is
it okay if I call you doctor Heather? Absolutely so,
Doctor Heather. I'm so so excited to have you on
Best Bets for Pets. So, for those of us that
have not heard about Zoetis, who is Zoetis? And then
let's talk about what the Zoetis breed Explore is.
Speaker 5: Yeah, now that sounds great. You know, Zoettas is a
global animal health company and we make products for dogs
and cats and other species of animals as well, and
we really like to support, you know, the human animal
bond and bring some really good resources to dog and
cat owners.
Speaker 2: Okay, great, thanks for sharing that information with our listeners.
Let's talk about the breed Explore because I think it's
really cool, and we are focused on all pets, so
I think it's so important to know what you're getting,
and you don't always know what you're getting with mutts,
but a lot of key all well decide, you know,
Oh I just love Jack Russell's They're my favorite. Or
I just love a sphinx, you know, for for cats,
not realizing how high maintenance they are. So I made
that mistake too. I really wanted his sphinx un till
I found out more about them and thought I can't commit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a Chinese crusted dog, so I can
empathize with.
Speaker 2: That a Chinese. I've seen that a Chinese crested at
the dog park. I was a long time ago. But
they're they're so cool looking. So you can do research,
but you have to go all over the place. So
why did Zuetis decide? You know, I know they're into
animal health and wealth there, but why did they decide
we need a breed explore?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know what, there's so many new cat and
dog owners both around and frequently I think people make
the mistake of they see a cat breed or a
dog breed on TV or in a movie and they're like, Hey,
that's a really cool breed. I'm going to go get it,
you know, not really thinking through that that breed might
be made to do a job or function, it doesn't
really fit with their family and their lifestyle. So you know,
one thing that Zoetas wanted to do was get a
veterinary approved resource that would really help people who are
going out to get a new pet understand, you know,
the unique needs and what qualities like different breeds might
bring to the plate. You know, there's a lot of
information out there online and you know, sometimes it can
be really challenging to figure out what are the best
resources to find out information about animal breeds. So, you know,
Zoetas wanted to come out with this Veterinary Approved, an
assessed site that has over four hundred dog and cat
breeds on it and will give personalized insights to the
pet owner about different animals that might meet their lifestyle.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, I like that you said VET approved. So
how does the Breed Explore connect with Zoetis's overall mission
and pet health and responsible pet ownership and in addition
the fact that the Breed Explorer is BET approved. But
how does this all connect together with let's make sure
that the we're really focused on pet health and responsible
pet ownership. I like that word responsible.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I agree with you. I think you know,
responsible and I would say informed pet ownership is really critical.
You know, we want to be able to strengthen an
animal bond, and we can do that we learn by
providing guidance health tips, some education are all tools and resources.
It will help those pet owners understand, you know, which
pet is going to be best for their family, and
you know, beyond linking to the Breed Explorer when that
potential pet owner is going through the process of trying
to think which animal is you know best for their lifestyle,
it will also link out to some other Zoetis resources
that have things like, for example, if you're bringing a
new kitten home, a checklist for things you might want
to think about, or if you're bringing a new puppy home,
you know, what's a checklist? How do you puppyproof a
kitten proof a home? You know, so that it's going
to link out to a whole bunch of other really
nice resources. And we have a team of many veterinarians
who work with myself and myself and peers have gone
through the information that they are both the resources and
on a Breed Explorer. Just you need to make sure
they're accurate to make sure the pet owners are getting
the best information possible.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you. So the Breed Explorer has over four
hundred breeds. What kind of data can you share with
our listening audience that is included for each breed.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, that was great, and I can tell you
when we first started getting all the data set, it
was even impressive to me as a veterinarian, the amount
of information that we had on different breeds. But you
can look for things like energy level, family friendliness, potentially
being hypoallergenic qualities, size, will they be good with kids?
You know, and again that's an individual thing, but in generalities,
which types of pets might be better in households with kids?
Were they going to be great city pets or do
they need to be you know, running outside grooming considerations.
We were talking about sphinxes earlier. You know, that's one
that pops on my radar that might have some extra
skin issues. Also, you know, potential health considerations. There's some
breeds of both cats and dogs that I adore, but
I think owners need to be you know, aware of
different health considerations that they might be getting into, things
to look out for as those pets age, so they
can find you know, kind of all those those pieces
of information on this Pet Explorer site.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks, I think there's great information and one of
the things that always is you know, top of mine
for me, is that people that are adopting, the more
they're aware of what they're adopting getting into. You know,
it's not a toy you buy in return. Because puppies
grow up to be dogs, kiddies grow up to be cats,
and sometimes people are not informed. I'll give you a
little bit history. I mentioned sphinks earlier. There was a
listener that wanted to give me a sphinx. She wasn't
in the same state, but they could be pricey, and
I was really considering it, and it wasn't so much
that they're I know, they're high maintenance. You know, for
a cat that has no further, their skin gets oily.
You have to bathe them often. They're just high maintenance
little cats. They need to be around you all the time.
What got me is concerned is the fact that I
have three other cats and one is not so nice,
and a sphinx has no fur so one claw and
that poor little cat will be scratched. And you know
there's other things too that you have to clean their
ears in certain ways, to other high maintenance things. But
the idea that even that there was a thought that
one of my cats might attack this poor little kitten
concern me. So for that reason, I decided to not
adopt the cat because the little Sphinx kitten, because I
don't want to bring a kitten into my home that
could be, you know, hurt by one of my other cats.
And it's very easy, as we all know, those of
us that have cats, one little swipe and you have
a cut, right, So can imagine that for a kitten.
So that was what changed my mind. It wasn't so much,
it was kind of knowing the breed and making sure
that I was aware of what everything I was getting into.
And I think knowing that can help people make informed decisions.
You know, like you said, family friendly, high energy. You know,
if you're not a high energy person, don't get a
high energy kitty or or breed or high energy dog
like a Jack Russell because you know, unless you're planning
to go the dog parks six times a week at least,
forget it. So I think these are really important in
helping people retain ownership, not just you know, adopt and decide, Ah,
this dog's not for me or cat's not for me.
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 5: One hundred percent agree? And you know one thing I
will say I'm super impressed with what you were telling
me about the Sphinx because you know, I think most
people when they look at the breed explorer would learn
the skin cares a lot. But I'm even pressed that
you thought even further down the line and how you
know another cat scratch could be more detrimental to that
new kitten. So that to me, what you your story
is Florida one of the cornerstones of good you know,
good health owners, you know, good pet stewardship and being
a good pet owner and thinking through. You know, the
last thing that we want is for somebody to get
a dog or cat and realize it doesn't fit with
their lifestyle, that it's not working out for them, and
have to try and find a different house for the animal.
You know, being prepared even from training on up or
what you're gonna get with that breed is critical. You know,
every time a movie comes out with a certain you know,
dogg or cat breed, the we vets will find people
coming in with puppies of that. And you know, depending
on a dog or cat breeds, sometimes we're like okay,
and sometimes it can be a more challenging breed to
train or a breed that's known to have some more
potential health problems. That's frustrating that the people aren't, you know,
getting informed about potential issues with that breed down the line.
So I do think you know, it's important and to
plan your pet's life and to plan your pets care
early on whether you buy one or you know, adopt
an older one that you know is a certain breed.
I think that's critical.
Speaker 2: Okay, So doctor Heather, how do you assure that the
breed help and the care information is current and accurate?
Speaker 5: You know, we're always continually, you know, updating the Breed
Explore looking at it. You know, there's a lot of
veterinary research that goes on a lot of journal articles
that get published, so making sure that we really regularly
look at that content, make sure it's relevant, reliable, you know.
I know I personally have edited some other content on
there a few times since it's been up, just to
make sure that we're giving pet owners the most accurate
And we'll look at beyond the Breed Explorer, We'll look
at all of our resources we have for pet owners
pretty regularly, and as trends chain, as information changes with
pet ownership, we update those to reflect that.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much. Stay tuned. We'll be right
back right after this message from our sponsor.
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Speaker 5: Let's talk, let's come Petal Headline.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone. We talked in the first half about
the Zoetis breed Explorer, and we're gonna talk a little
more about that. So doctor head how does the breed
Explore help those that they've decided on a breed, And
like you said, a movie comes out it's about, you know,
cute lab everybody wants a lab or cute Yorki everybody
wants a Yorkie. So there's that. You know, just because
you love a breed doesn't mean that's the breed for you.
But what about mixed breeds? And again, I'm going to
talk about some of my fur babes. One who's no
longer with us, mister Zeus. So I added a thing
for border Collies, but I like border Collie mutts because
they're usually not quite as high energy. I've had two.
My girl was the first one, and she was super
high energy, like feisty. My other one was a Border
Collie but also flat hair Retriever, which I thought was
a made up breed but it's not, and he was
more like chill. So I know that breeds can only
tell you so much. But they both needed to go
to the dog park a few times a week otherwise
I was in trouble. I'd get the zuomies big time
in my house. So how can you people use to
breed explore to help with mixed breeds because we see
a lot of those in the shelters.
Speaker 5: Yep, I agrees, you know, and there's a lot of
really cool mixed breeds that I love and I'll share
with you. I mentioned earlier my little dog, Dotti's a
Chinese crusted but she's actually a Chinese crested mix. She
looks like a Chinese crested, but she has terrier and
Chihaba in her. But to your point talking about your
border collies, I think because she has the terrier in her.
I live in Asheville, North Carolina, and this little dog
will hike up mountains, do five or six mile hikes,
which I wouldn't have thought for a Chinese crested, So
the terrier comes out sometimes, you know, I would say
for mixed breeds, you know a lot of times by
looking at an animal that you rescueer it's a shelter,
you might be able to have a good guess for
what the primary breed is for sure, and then you
know just by looks and qualities on it. So I
think one thing you could do is if you see
an animal online at a shelter, at a rescue, you
know a lot of times those shelters and rescues will
take a stab at hey, this is a lab cross,
or this is a this is a Begle cross, or
you know, whatever breed they're looking at, and then you
can look up. You know that there are some genetic
testing that you can get done on your pets to
figure out exactly what breeds they are. But I also think,
you know, talking about the mixed breeds. I think that
the other point we need to think about with a
breed explorer is that, you know, these are tendencies for
all these pets, but everybody is an individual, and a
lot of how that dogger cat's going to turn out
also is you know, how you raise it, how your
environment is, what what veterinary care, preventive veterinary care you
get for that pet even will help with its longevity.
So I think that's important for people to think about too.
Speaker 2: Okay, thanks. I think it's also interesting how breed traits
can predict potentially predict behavior, and we talked a little
bit about that just now. But I'm going to tell
you a little bit about my cat, Dennis. So Dennis
found me. He was abandoned. He was outside crying one
night cold and opened the door. He just walked in
and I've had Dennis. Oh my gosh, almost eighteen seven fars.
Speaker 5: Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 2: I was not a cat person then my cat or
two friends. I was not a cat person. And it
wasn't until I had my next set of cats that
I learned Dennis is like a typical He's more like
a dog in action. So I found out he's part
I didn't do a genetic test, but over just checking
and everything, he's partnering Kun. So I thought he was
like special, cool cat, but that's just in his nature.
He's not what they say quote cat like. And I
know some people might cringe here in that, but it
was better for me to get started on a cat
like this, you know my cat app because it was
just a nice way to get used to cat behavior.
But it also tricked me because I learned from other cats,
especially Molly, that that's how cats are. So how much
breed traits can you actually do as far as in behavior,
because we touched on it, But how exact is that
or is it just you know, it's some it's a tool,
it's a guy, but it's not all of it.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna give you a mixed dance or I'm gonna say, Okay,
that's a little bit of both is what I was.
I'm gonna say. You know, I think that a lot
of cat and dog breeds have been bred for long
periods of time to do certain jobs. My mind goes
more with the canine side and thinking about working dogs
and dogs that were to you know, for example, hard sheep,
herd cattle, or be watchdogs. I do think that when
you have a specific breed of dog or cat that's
been bred for generations to bring out certain qualities, they
are pretty likely to bring some of those. I also think,
though equally as important is you know, hey, you might
get a dog that may have more energy, and you
know that's going to be a behavior piece, so you know,
you may maybe you want to do flyball with a dog,
or maybe you want to do some extra training. So
I think that it both. You know, it's it's the breeds,
and I think that even with a mixed breed, that
predominant breed is going to bring characteristics with it. And
you know, talking about health wise, certainly as a veterinarian,
you know there are genetic diseases, there are certain things
that breeds are prone to those are gonna come to.
But again, you know being aware of those things, giving
appropriate environment is going to help. And you know, every
animal obviously is an individu Joel too, so so no
matter you know what you get, you might be surprised.
Speaker 2: Okay, good answer. How does Breed Explorer work with other
zoettics resources, like you know, maybe the Pet Health Checklist
or vet visits?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I mean really great, Like you know, different things.
It can be toxic to dogs or cats, how to
puppy proof a cat or dog? You know, there's even
articles I'm thinking about you talking about having a couple,
you know, multiple cats, like what if one of your
cats is having a litter box problems? What types of
things can you do to problem? Shoot, you mentioned cleaning
a cat ears. There is actually an article I just
thought about that is on there about how to clean
the cat ears. So for example, like if you look
up a breed that may be tending to have skin
problems or ear problems, and you might see a link
at the bottom that's like, hey, you know, here's a
link to how do you know if your dog has
an ear infection? Or how do you know when to
take your dog to a vet or cat to a
vet with an ear infection, so you'll be able to
find a whole bunch of other resources related to it,
and again all veterinary approved. So I think those are
you know, to me, that's kind of the critical piece too,
is knowing that a veterinarian has looked at the resources
and approved them.
Speaker 2: Right, and that it's not just generic AI, which is
leads into my next question. So are there plans to expand,
red explore, maybe add more species. You know, dogs and
cats are the most predominant pets in the US, but
people have other things. I can't think of anything on badgehogs,
guinea pig, ferrets, That's what I couldn't think of. Ferrets
are coming out there big. What about a vet chat
box or possible AI personalization, but it would have to
be of course vet improved AI side.
Speaker 5: I don't know how that Yeah, no, you know, and
I think that is some of the things that we've
been kind of taking through and looking at, you know.
So what's like I mentioned, obviously we make products for
dogs and cats, but we do do all species. And
I'll tell you the one that popped into my head,
and it's probably just because I have one. You know,
there would be a good new species and I don't
know if we're actually going to work on it or not.
Would be horses, because when we were talking about breeds earlier,
you know, that's another animal that people keep as pets,
but the breed really has a the bread to do
certain things. So similarly so with dog and cats. So
I do think, you know, looking at different species with
something that could be done, you know, I know for sure,
looking at things like vet chat bots, alien powered personalization,
and making sure we have the links out to not
just the blogs, the downloadables, but even video content too.
So making sure there's a lot of i'll say multimedia
content on there is going to be important as we
move forward.
Speaker 2: Okay, great, thank you. What is the one myth about breeds,
whether you know, cats or dogs, that you wish people
would stop believing?
Speaker 5: I would say that breed and it's something I sort
of said a few different times, but I'll say it
pretty clear this time, is that breed alone determines you know, personality,
because I will say, I think you can have any
cat breed or any dog breed, and if you don't
provide that animal with appropriate care, you may not have
the best outcome. And on the flip side, if you
really do your homework, if you really are engaged with
how you're bringing that pet home, and what veterinary care
you're getting for it, and if how you're working with
that animal and handling it, introducing it, all those things
really are critical in your pet's behavior beyond breed.
Speaker 2: I absolutely agree. I think you can only look at
the breed as a guide. But you're right, doesn't determine personality.
It might just be you know, I think it's very
good for energy level or expectations that people might not
be prepared for, but yes, doesn't indicate personality at all.
Do you think the breed explorer can help improve that
animal bond animal like human bond in the long term.
Speaker 5: I think so because I think when you think about
that human animal bond, you know, part of it is,
you know, how we're helping that dogger cat, but it's
also how that dogger cat is supporting us in our journeys.
You know, are they providing us companionship, are they combining
us with an exercise partner? Are they helping us when
we're stressed? So I think, you know, if you really
sit down and critically think about, you know, what is
my lifestyle, what is my family's lifestyle, where do I live?
And which pet will fit in the best. I think
it's a win win because not only will that animal
be happier, but guess what you will be too. You know,
I think you'll have a more successful relationship with that
dogger cat, and you could see some of the great
benefits of pet ownership.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Okay, we have time for one
more question. If you could give every new pet owner
a piece some advice, what would you tell them?
Speaker 5: So I will say, I think being a veterinarian, I
will say, you know, find a veterinarian in your area.
It's going to become your partner in your pets health journey.
You know, do your research, ask your friends, talk to
different veterinarians, find a vet hospital that will work with you,
and that person will be, you know, in your pets
entire journey a partner. They'll be able to obviously help
you with like preventative care, They'll be able to help
you figure out when your pet's not feeling well, and
they can even help out with behavior questions and problems.
So really relying on that veterinarian and that whole entire
vet healthcare team to be your partner with your vet's
care as you go through the journey.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for everyone listening. You can go
to the show page for this show and there will
be a link to the Zoetta Spreed Explore and where
else can we find doctor Heather?
Speaker 5: So if you go to zoettas PetCare dot com backslash
breed hyphen Explorer, it will be there. But even I
know me and I'm not good at typing in those
long addresses. If you just type into Zoetta's US PetCare
and say you're a pet owner, you can navigate to
it from there pretty easily as well.
Speaker 2: Okay, perfect, and that's spelled z's and zebra o e
like egg tea as in tomis is and Sam.
Speaker 5: Yep.
Speaker 2: Absolutely okay, Doctor Heather, thank you so much, Thank you,
this was fun. I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Thank
you so much to listening to Catatude. This has definitely
been eye opening. I really encourage you to go to
Zoetta's breed Explore. There's so many different cat breeds and
there's so much great information on it. I want to
thank doctor Heather Burst for coming on Cata Tude. Thanks
to my cat crew, Dennis, Charlotte and Molly. I did
investigate you guys, and I really know mostly what Dennis
is because he's partnering Pune. Molly is the Tuxedo, and
Charlotte is just I don't know Calico mix, so it's
hard to tell what these they are, but Dennis I
can get more information on again check out Zoetis Breed
Explore and I want a huge thank you again to
my guest. Thank you for everyone that listens to Tatitude.
I appreciate it so much, and remember this show would
not be the same without the magic of my producer.
Thank you so much, Mark Winter and Hey loose Attitude,
have Tatitude.
Speaker 4: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlifradio
dot com.