Sarasota Dog

Have you wondered about the differences in vet care? Complementary, Alternative or Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine? We chatted with Dr. Wendy Ying, of Holistic Veterinary House Calls about these modalities, how they can help and where to learn more. Check it out!

In the event that you can’t listen, feel free to peruse our transcript below. Want to subscribe on Apple podcasts? This link will take you there.

Have a question about your dog? From behavior, healthcare, training and the human-animal bond, The Rover Reporter is on the trail of information that can help you and your dog. Send us a note to: MaryLouDavidson@gmail,com, and we will research your question.

Announcer:  Welcome to your DogCast, where we feature news just for dog lovers. Here’s your Rover reporter, Mary Lou Davidson. Hey everybody. Welcome to the Rover Reporter 

RR:   Today. we’re going to be looking at a topic that we all are concerned about. Everybody wonders about, and that’s veterinary healthcare. Most of us have a traditional veterinarian for our pet. , and at times we’ve gone to see a specialist, whether it be an orthopedist or an ophthalmologist, but there’s another kind of veterinary care, which is traditional Chinese veterinary medical care. It’s a holistic practice. It looks at the entire pet, but it offers some complimentary treatments and, alternatives for rehabilitation and suggestions for nutrition. And I was lucky enough to be able to find an expert Dr. Wendy yang, and she is not only a doctor of veterinary medicine, but also a Chinese veterinary medicine practitioner. Hey Wendy, how are you? 

Dr. Ying:  Thanks for having me on 

Thank you so much. This is one of those topics that people get confused about. And when you think about a holistic or Chinese veterinary medicine vet, you wonder, do I still need to have my regular vet? And the answer is 

Dr. Ying:,you should have a great relationship with your regular pet! Our dogs hide a lot of their medical issues, right? So sometimes we don’t see that they’re hurting until the disease has progressed along quite far. So I think it’s really important that people have a solid relationship with their veterinarian and they should go in at the minim once a year, whether you’re, you know, for just a checkup. So whether you need vaccines at that time or not, , it’s great for your vet to be able to see your pet when they’re healthy. So then when your pet is sick or acting a little funny, as in vet medicine, we call it ADR and doing right. Then they have a baseline to see where they are. Like, sometimes you might think your dog’s a little like lethargic, but if I don’t know what your dog looks like, normally it’s hard for me to assess that maybe that he’s just a personality. Maybe he’s just a lazy guy, 

RR: You know, that acronym that you just used a quite right. , are there other things everybody’s, everybody’s pet has a folder at the vet office, right. And it’s always frantically scribbling notes and I’ve always wondered what they’re saying. Are they writing things like something ain’t quite right or 

Dr. Ying:  ADR? That’s the term that, we, a lot of farm people use, like, it’s like, I don’t know, “Doc, he ain’t doing right.” So we use ADR meaning,, the client suspects, the clients suspect something’s wrong, but they don’t know what’s wrong, which usually involves like some kind of internal, internal, , issue. Like, , like I have a patient right now. Okay. She’s a cute little,  shih tzu. And she has a disease called auto immune hemolytic anemia, meaning that she is making antibodies to her own red blood cells. And then it causes those red blood cells to burst and she has anemia. Right? So her blood can’t carry enough oxygen, but she’s like a Shih Tzu that just lays around anyways. But her  owner noticed that she’s she was lethargic. And so when she went into the veterinarian, you can’t see that from the outside. Maybe we see her gs are a little bit pale, but there are lots of reasons why that would be, but until you pull the blood and, and do a blood panel, you wouldn’t know that that dog had anemia. 

RR:  And that’s something you do at your, your regular vet, your traditional that your general practitioner, 

Dr. Ying:   Right? Yeah. Well, like in that case, , like I am doing the acupuncture and herbal therapies for that dog, but her general practitioner is monitoring her, , red blood cell level and giving her, , in this case, you have to have steroids. Steroids are a very important part of this treatment process. , so we’re working together on this case. 

RR:   hat’s awesome. By the way, everyone, Wendy’s  practice is called Holistic Veterinary House Calls. And she does, along with her partner, , chiropractic care for pets, companion animals, you know, dogs, cats as well as horses and her partner is Dr. Kyle. And he is a doctor of chiropracty and an instructor at the Chi Institute. Wendy is also a podcast host and she, she runs the show, , works with, the folks who run the show at horse radio. 

DR. Ying That’s right. 

RR:  So, we’re in good hands. Tell us a little bit about the basic tenants of traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, 

Dr. Ying:  Chinese medicine, TCVM kind of seems like from the outside, when you look at it, like, like my whole family, my Chinese side of my family, they’re all like medical doctors or engineers. Right? So they think like Chinese medicine is something my crazy grandmother thinks about it’s folk medicine, which you can kind of think about that as folk medicine, but the history of TCV. Yeah. We go back to these ancient texts from 400 BC that evolved that, , some people, people that were, you know, they may be mythical or they may be real people. It was 400 BC, right? So we talked about the yellow emperor and this divine farmer, and they believe that the health of the body was dependent on how you’re imbalanced with your environment, , your diet and lifestyle. So, I mean, that makes sense. Right. But interestingly enough, at the same time in Greece, that was what Hippocrates was, , developing that same philosophy of medicine. 

Because before that people thought in both East and the West people thought, , you know, you got sick because evil spirits, you know, brought this on you or somebody cursed you or blah, blah, blah. But it was just fate. But, , in both sides of the world at this time, people were realizing that no, it’s, it’s how you live your life. It’s what you put into your body. And those are things that we think about now. So even though it seems like we haven’t, evolved in the same way Western medicine has evolved. , there is a lot of scientific research that, , that kind of validates, , acupuncture, herbal therapies. And, , and also,  in TCVM like, we realize that, okay, if you break your leg, then you need surgery and get your leg set, but we can’t do acupuncture for that. It’s not, it’s not magic. No, it’s not magic. So, so TCPM has kind of gone to the way of like wellness, , and, , like long-term goals for health. Whereas,  you know, Western medicine in it, there’s you have the emergency part and then you have, , long-term goals using pharmaceuticals and things like that. So it is very similar. It’s just, they’ve kind of grown to separate areas. 

RR:   So let’s talk about treatment options that you would deploy in TCV M okay. 

Dr. Wendy Ying:   Everybody knows about acupuncture. And we’ve talked about that before. So acupuncture, you’re using needles to stimulate acupuncture points. And what that does is it stimulates the body. It stimulates a reaction in the body like modern research is showing that what it probably does is it stimulates the cells talking to each other, right? So like, that’s why it can stimulate your immune system. It can help with hormones and things like that. And then herbal formulas are very similar to pharmaceuticals they’re for the most part, sometimes it’s minerals and they have certain actions similarly to pharmaceuticals and then, , chiropractic or spinal manipulation. There’s tons of, , everybody’s very familiar with that. Everybody loves to get their back cracked. And, , then also some newer therapies that we use on TCBs involve laser because not everybody especially pets, like, , like needles and with the laser, we can actually stimulate the acupuncture points. 

So I sometimes use that in practice, but also laser therapy itself. , even if I’m not doing an acupuncture point using laser therapy, , what it does is the light gets absorbed by the cell and the little engine inside the cell speeds up. And, and then it speeds healing. So for example, like if say you strain your tendon, right. And, you know, okay, I strained my tendon, your body has to fix that, right? That, that healing process is determined by how quickly your body makes new collagen and fixes this tendon. So the laser therapy can help speed up the, the metabolism of the cells that make collagen. So that’s quickly healing your tendon, but also we know like vitamin C is really important for tendon repair for the strength of the tendon. So we also would add herbal formulas that contain high amounts of vitamin C. And then you can also eat foods like citrus fruits that are high in vitamin C and all of those things together could work to help heal the tendon plus you need to rest. 

RR:   Right. And, and when you do the actual laser therapy, what is that process? Do you have a machine? Do you bring the animals somewhere? How does it work? 

Dr. Wendy Ying: Oh yeah. Well, I always joke because I have this new laser and it’s great. It’s tiny and it’s really safe. And I, my old laser, I felt like I was using the bag phone, remember the bag phone, you know, my, all my shirt was really big. It was small, portable one. I was smaller than the really, really big lasers, but, , it was still really big. And it w there were some, , you know, dangerous to it. It caused, , some heating of the tissue and it also could damage your eyes. So the new lasers that we have now, we’ve realized that, the frequency of the laser, turning on and off, like the frequency that we deliver, the laser light therapy also has some benefits. And because of that research, , we can actually use lasers that are a little bit less, but more but safer. And those are much better for the animals. 

RR Okay. Is it like a wand?

It’s like, ,going back to the phone thing, remember those old phones that you were on your wall and you pick it up and hold it by your ear. It’s about that size. 

RR: Okay. So not too overwhelming for a small dog?

Dr. Ying:  Yeah. And it has different, , it has different heads on it. So like, if I’m doing acupuncture, I have one that has a head that I can make it to be like a little tiny point. And then I have one that’s wider that I use, like, like I was working on a two-hour today that hurt his back. So I have one that’s like a flat disc am. I can cover a lot more space. 

RR:  So this new laser machine that you have, has it replaced the need to use needles then? Pretty much? 

Dr. Ying:  Well, I still like to use needles. But actually I, I did my master’s thesis on using laser acupuncture to relax horses. And, , I did prove that there was a significant difference in, , like that I was getting actual results from the laser, and there are many studies out there where laser acupuncture does work. And you do see the same kind of results you see with the needles. But, , a lot of times I want to use needles, especially in horses because the laser only goes, , like maybe a centimeter. So I, the, the laser, I can do points that are close to the surface, like on the path, because dogs don’t like needles in their paw. Right. You would, you want a needle like in between your, your fingers? Right. So I can use laser there, but then like, say I have a big dog with hip arthritis. Then in that dog, I want to use longer needles so that I can get deep into the tissue. 

RR:  So how long have you been practicing traditional Chinese veterinary medicine? 

Dr. Ying:   Well, I, , I actually, , I graduated from North Carolina state in 99, and then I was certified for, , acupuncture and 2004. So I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it’s been quite a while. And, , and then I, , have gone through and I finished my master’s in 2015, I guess, 2015. I, I really feel, I feel, I really feel lucky that I have, that I got into veterinary acupuncture in the United States in this time, because I feel like even in the time that I’ve been in is become more and more accepted. And, , I see it really helping a lot of pets 

RR:  Much more. And I think, of course, since we’re accepting these non-traditional forms of han health care, it makes it that much easier to transition that way for our pets. Right. Tell us about Cutie pie and her story or his life. 

Dr. Ying:   Okay. Cutie pie is like one of my favorite patients. Whenever I see her on our schedule, I’m like, Oh, so glad we could see cutie pie, but her situation is very, a very common one. So she is, yeah. Cutie pie is a little Shi Tzu about eight years old. So pretty young, like midlife, but she has a defect in her left front leg. Like she’s one of these dogs that have a twisted leg. Right. So when she puts her foot down, her, her pawpoints like 90 degrees from where it should. So we, so that puts a lot of stress on her, her carpus or her wrist. And she had an injury where, of course this is a small dogs, jump off. She loves to jumpp off the sofa. So she jumped off, the sofa, hurt her back. So her owner called us out for the back pain. 

But when I went over her, I realized also that she has, luxating patella, which that’s super common in small dogs. And what that means is her knee cap kind of goes off, it slips off of her femur, right. It doesn’t track in the right way. And then she holds her little hind leg up and it looks like she’s skipping, it’s not painful, but, you might see that in your dog that sometimes does happen. And, so besides her back, I also realized that her patella had gone from like a low grade issue to a more higher grade issue where she was limping all the time. So we, we worked on her for her back and for her patella, got her going good. But now, , you know, she, every once in a while has, because her left front, she has an issue her right hind  knee cap comes out more than the left also when it comes out like that, et cetera, for arthritis, right? 

Because it’s sliding yes. Off bones. So with Cutie Pie, it’s been really rewarding for that case, because even though I had to fix her back injury, that was an acute problem. I saw her early enough in the course of this disease, her chronic issues, that we could really help that a lot with chiropractic and with acupuncture. And we have her on, , and in this case, we did have run some herbs in the beginning when her back was really sore. But for her long-term, we have run a supplement that, , has anti-inflammatory herbs in it. And it’s a flat based supplement and it protects her joints. She, it has, , it has, , like it’s like Cosequin for dogs, but it’s in a little flat space formula with some herbs and she can stay on that for life. And then that will really, , offset the chance of her having arthritis early on. Now, hopefully we’ll get her through to live a very happy long life, even though she has some congenital deformities in our little front leg and in our knee. 

RR:   Right. So that’s super cool that you spotted it and you were able to offer a treatment to help ward off early onset arthritis too,

Dr. Ying:  Yeah. And that’s what I’m mean like with, , why you need a good relationship with your Vet because, this client also, , she only went to the that when she needed vaccines or had the injury, but, you know, maybe she had a relationship with the vet to have, , a lifelong wellness plan, which I think we’re having that more and more these days, people want a lifelong wellness plan for their animal. Like that could be,, that could have been diagnosed at the beginning. You know, sometimes puppies have that and they grow out of it. But if they haven’t grown out of it in a year or two, then your, your vet will say any, that would, that would say, Hey, let’s put her on some arthritis formula, as a supplement to help her joints. And if you see her limping, bring her in and we’ll do something, laser or acupuncture.

RR:  Right. And because as you said, dogs mask so much, she could be struggling, but acting like she’s just fine. Right. if people want to read more about TCVM , , do you have any books that you recommend or website? 

Dr. Ying Yeah, there’s a great book. That’s called  Four Paws Five Directions written by a Vet Dr. Cheryl Schwartz. She’s in California. She is fantastic. I’ve learned so much from her. She has just this way of looking at animals that really opened my eyes a lot. , and this four pause, five directions goes into the Chinese medicine theory of the five elements. , and it’s written for pet owners. 

So it was written by the vet, but it’s written for pet owners. So it’s a really good read and there’s lots of cases in there. And then, Dr. Dan Callan, he’s a people doctor, an MD. He was an emergency medicine doctor, and then he was trained in acupuncture and he’s also an embryologist and his books are so great. If you want to dive deeper into the science of acupuncture, his books, he wrote spark in the machine probably 10 years ago. 

And it’s, it really is an easy to understand book about, Chinese medicine. And then the hidden body is more of a, like a text that you can use if you want to learn more about the meridians and how the organs function together. But spark in the machine has some really fantastic case studies that he has done. , and a lot, a lot of his case studies or when he was still working in the ER and then incorporating Chinese medicine into some of his patients in the ER. And that book is you can get it as an audio book. And it’s a great, 

Want to learn more about Dr. Ying?  Please visit http://Dr.WendyYing.com

The post What is Holistic Vet Care? appeared first on Sarasota Dog.

Kyle Baker is the Senior Nutritional Specialist for DOGPerfect.  He has 17 years of research into the world of dog health and nutrition.    It all started with his dog Toby whom he found living on the streets.   Kyle understands that food and nutrition is not a one-size-fits-all practicality.  Different pups have different needs.    Check out our conversation here for some quick tips – and insights about improving your dog’s quality of life.

For your convenience, we’ve included a transcript of our chat with Kyle.

Rover Reporter: Welcome to the podcast. I’m excited today to welcome Kyle Baker. Kyle is the Senior Nutritional Specialist for DOGPerfect. Welcome Kyle.

KYLE BAKER (00:20):

Hey welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

Rover Reporter (00:23):

I’m so excited to talk about this because dog food and the nutritional aspects can be so confusing for dog lovers. And so I’m hoping that you can dispel some myths and give us some background that we can use moving forward. I know that you’ve been working in the area locally here in the Sarasota Bradenton area. Tell me what sparked your interest in nutrition?

KYLE BAKER (00:48):

Just kind of like, like, like listeners in you. My love for my animal. I found a dog, a dog on this, on the street that had a compromised immune system. He had no fur body was a body was pink, so you can see all the information coming out of them. So I took that dog and took him to the vet. I got him checked out to see to see what if they could figure out what was going on with them. The veterinarians couldn’t figure out exactly how to heal that except with the use of steroids and prescription diets. Me, I couldn’t handle that as a, a true answer. I knew there had to be another result out there that could help my Toby out. So I kinda started doing my own research. I found a book called barf it’s biologically appropriate, raw feeding.

KYLE BAKER (01:35):

It’s written by a gentleman named ends in billing worth. And that was kinda my my eyeopening to nutrition. I put that doc, that diet ideology towards Toby and within weeks of time, the pink information started to go out of his body. First started growing back. So of course I was super, super, super excited about the results I was getting. And then when I took a Toby back to the veterinarian to get a checkup kind of show him the results. My, my answer to him, his answer to me was totally opposite what I thought I was going to get. He told me that you know what, these were all diets that could be possibly killing my animal. That right there scared me. But I didn’t understand that because I seen the results. So I kind of left there a little bit confused and disturbed of not really knowing what to do, but I stuck to my grounds and kept on doing more and more research. And through that, Toby kept on healing and that opened up my eyes to a whole nother career that I didn’t think was going to happen. Cause I kind of figured out there’s going to probably be other people out in this world who had issues with animals, compromised immune system allergies.

Rover Reporter (02:44):

Just jump in here for a second, Kyle, because you’re moving pretty quickly. And I’d like to know more. You said you found Toby on the street.

KYLE BAKER (02:53):

Yeah. I found Toby on the street. There was a homeless guy who had him in Ybor city, which is in Tampa. He owned the little puppy. I mean, Toby was probably eight to nine weeks old when I walked by. I seen Toby had a note for all pink on side and had an extended belly. And so I knew there was something, something wrong with them. So I knew that this needed to get this dog away from him.

Rover Reporter (03:14):

Did the guy give him to you willingly?

KYLE BAKER (03:17):

No, I paid, I paid the guy $10 for him.

Rover Reporter (03:19):

And how, how old were you when that happened?

KYLE BAKER (03:22):

I was 20 or 21 when that happened. And I knew that there was probably other people out there who were having compromised dogs, dogs, or cats with compromised immune systems or allergies that didn’t have this kind of resources or no, these options were out there for them. So I decided that my career path was going to, to research all these great products from Raul to gently cooked to herbs and supplements to help other pet owners with issues with their dogs. And that’s kinda how I ended up getting into pet nutrition. And if there was something I never, if somebody came to me and, and had a problem that I never knew of my always answer was we’re going to find out, we’re going to find this out together through research and trial and error and through the 17 years now that I’ve been doing this came up with a pretty good repertoire.

Rover Reporter (04:21):

I know that particularly here in Florida, allergies can be troublesome and widespread, but in your experience, working in a retail environment, what percentage of dogs do you see that have allergies?

KYLE BAKER (04:37):

I’d say about a 10 to 15% of dogs out there have allergies. But over, over 57% of dogs have some kind of endocrine disease, which is, you know, the, the number one thing is overweight, but also some other things hyper or hypo thyroid issues.

Rover Reporter (04:55):

So when people come into your store and they’re looking at a food and they have their dog with them, do you approach and, and talk about the dog or do you wait for them to come to you? How does that work?

KYLE BAKER (05:10):

Of course you know, I’m, I’m always a proactive person. So when anybody comes into the store, I always, you know, I want to always greet and introduce them, make them feel welcoming. But I always take a look at the dog because the dog, the dog will tell, tell a lot of stories on the way his gate is, the way he walks the way his, his coat feels, the way he sheds he coming off of, off of his body. So those are the things I kinda look at when I first approach a dog. And then when I’m petting them, I’m feeling for heat. See if we’ve got excess shedding, I looking for those things. So I can give some tips and techniques that could possibly help, help resolve some of those issues. And you also take an account, the dogs, the dogs, a age activity levels, if he’s active, inactive allergies, food intolerances. And those are the kinds of things that I kind of look into when, when it, when, when somebody brings their pet in to the pet stores themselves.

Rover Reporter (06:07):

So how do you help, I guess, based on what your experiences and your knowledge of the foods in the store, you can help guide people to a particular brand or type of thing,

KYLE BAKER (06:18):

Right? Yeah. I can always find ways to maybe help better their diets or figure out what is causing these minor or major inflammation in the body and see if we can get those removed out through change in diet or through detox in itself.

Rover Reporter (06:34):

What’s the detox process?

KYLE BAKER (06:37):

Different things, detox. One of my favorite detox is, is going to be milkthistle. So, the detox that you use to flush out the liver or liver in kind of Chinese medicine is kind of the pump that pumps all the energy through our body when that gets built up. And sludged up with things  toxins,from other things that the liver – is trying to filter through. It’s not able to move things through the body itself. So we like to add milkthistle up to the diet, to clean, clean up the liver and move that through. A  real easy way to know if the liver is slightly inflamed, is if you feel on directly on top of the dog’s head, if that, if that has more heat coming off of it than the rest of the body, it’s a good, good sign that there’s probably some minor inflammation going on in the liver itself. And you might want to look into a detox for three to four weeks, and you’ll notice that the top of the head will start cooling down and even, even up with the rest of the body spill.

Rover Reporter (07:34):

Wow, that’s fascinating. So is the milk thistle a capsule?

KYLE BAKER (07:39):

It can come into capsule coming in liquid form can come in different forms. So I usually use the liquid forms easier to absorb into the body quicker to get to the bloodstream itself, to start doing it’s detoxing.

Rover Reporter (07:51):

Yeah. Interesting. So I don’t know if you remember, I’m sure you do, but there was a big controversy some months back about grain-free and you know, people were saying that it could lead to issues with the heart and other maladies what’s, what’s your opinion of that? The whole thing’s kind of died down.

KYLE BAKER (08:13):

The reason why the whole thing has died down cause the controversy was not really nutritionally bound. It was more big publicly traded businesses against private private businesses.  At DogPerfect  we don’t look at foods if it has grain or grain-free in it that that doesn’t matter. 

That is a category for the marketers and the propaganda is out there. What we look in for foods is that you derive most of your protein from meat content instead of vegetable  and brain foods thrive most of protein from corn wheat and soy which is hard for dogs to break down. They don’t have the stomach the four chambers in the stomach to break that down like cows do. And also in those and corn wheat and soy, they’re all so raised with GMOs have been proven now that it damages our microbiome, which is one of our most important health factor things that control all of our health and our body.

A majority of your microbiome is found into your gut, your intestines, but it’s also found in your bones, your skin, your hair, your saliva, and your ears. And so once that starts getting damaged, that starts to open up a lot of things to get into the bloodstream as such as proteins and bacterias, once those proteins start getting into the bloodstream, that’s when allergy starts to come out. And when bacteria starts getting into the blood stream, that starts feeding your major diseases as authorized illness pancreatitis cancer, and other major illnesses.

Rover Reporter (09:48):

Yeah. Now here’s a softball question for you. Maybe do you recommend feeding once a day, twice a day or three times a day?

KYLE BAKER (09:57):

You know, that all depends on your lifestyle. There’s, there’s, there’s been a lot of people who tried to do studies on seeing what is better. The, the purists are the true naturalist out there. Who’ve studied wolves. They’re going to say one time a day is going to be the best, best thing for me personally, I like to do two times a day. Just cause I, I don’t want my dog to always feel like he’s having a, an empty stomach. Although that kind of, sometimes that scavengering and depleting their stomach helps their organs detox and take that inflammation out. And that’s why the purists will say one time a day, but we’ve got a lot of small dogs who’ve been domesticated and through throughout time their sugar levels get out of whack. So that’s why I like to do two two feedings a day to try to keep the, the sugar levels balanced or more balanced. Sometimes smaller dogs or older dogs, they might need to be fed three to four times throughout the day. Depends on if they have any kind of medical issues and things like that. So, so that’s that, that answer varies. But just for a true healthy dog, once to twice a day is going to be my best answer. But I, I’m more leaning towards twice a day.

Rover Reporter (11:12):

Gotcha. The other thing that, you know, we all struggle with as dog lovers, especially now that we’re home all the time is trreating our dogs. And it’s so hard not to grab something off your plate and give a little bite to your dog. And =we know the things that you shouldn’t do that with, but what is it okay to give just a little bit of?

KYLE BAKER (11:36):

Yeah. That’s, that’s a great, that’s a great question. You know what I mean? We hear this all the time. You know, people say that says, don’t give people food. Well, what is people food and what is dog food? Food is food. To me it’s just, we don’t want to give our dogs are over-processed over salted, over sugar base foods. But like me, I eat apples. I share that with my dog, oranges, banana is cauliflower, green peppers, red peppers, broccoli, all those, all those things in a raw and natural form, that’s not processed and had sugars and salts added to it are, are great treats and snacks to feed the dog. My dog loves crunching on carrots. So, so, so it’s not, it’s not really people food. We should stay away from it’s over processed foods that have too many sugars, salt, and other unknown things. And it is what we need to stay away from feeding our pets. But of course there’s some natural ingredients that are not good for them to onions few on a few other ones on the list too. But I, you know, to play it safe double-check and research before you do it, but in all, in all, if the food is wrong and process without sugars and salts added to it, most likely it’s going to be food for good food for your dog.

Rover Reporter (13:00):

And if you were going out to buy some healthy treats to carry with you in your bag or keeping the car or whatever, what should you look for in terms of ingredients?

KYLE BAKER (13:12):

That’s a very good question. And, and that goes in the same with food. There’s a lot of qual qualification questions. I kind of asked to see what you’re trying to get out of a tree, but the general rule on treats itself, I’m a big fan of Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine says, eat, eat what is ailing? So that means if you have in hardest at heart issue, eat heart treats, treats that are made with chicken hearts, beef hearts, lamb hearts, you got liver issues, eat, eat, treats that are made with liver. Cause you’re going to get all those benefits out of that. But there’s also other, other things that people are looking for in treats, you know, training treats. I just need a good training tree, which is going to be something that’s a little bit smaller. I like to go with freeze dried because of that that absorbs into the mouth a little bit easier.

KYLE BAKER (14:02):

It’s not as dry as a product. There’s your dental treats that help that are longer lasting treats that help aid in breaking down plaque and tartar and your mouth. And then there’s also your therapeutic treats. Those are treats that can bring benefits to the dog’s body from, from different omegas to a glucosamine, can Jordan a two different mushroom things to help build, build immunity. So it really depends on what you’re trying to get out of a tree, but a general treat that I like to go with is, is your, is your Oregon parts, your, your chicken hearts, your beef livers, your lamb, your lamb lungs, a more natural, more natural organ meat treats from a, is what I liked by my, my pets with, as a treat itself,

Rover Reporter (14:48):

I guess they’re probably tastier right? The organ treats?

KYLE BAKER (14:53):

Sure. That’s, that’s what dogs in the wild thrive off of. If you ever watch a dog in the wild eat the most, the first thing they go after is the organ meat itself, because it has the highest amount of nutritional value and the easiest to digest. I try to stay away from cookies and biscuits. And the reason why is we are already feeding our dogs, a, a over-processed basically biscuit and a kibble form that has no moisture towards it and has a lot of sugars, carbs and starches. So when I provide a treat, if we have a kibble based diet, I’m going to try to bring something that’s going to be a little bit more beneficial that doesn’t have all those carbs and starches to it and can bring some kind of freshness back to the diet that the dog’s diet itself.

Rover Reporter (15:38):

Are there any online resources that you feel are particularly helpful to consumers?

KYLE BAKER (15:44):

There are a few but there is a lot of confusing things on the old inner web here that can, can drive you crazy and contradict a one one site from the next site. So I kinda, I kind of stay with you know, like I said, the barf book by dr. E Billingsworth dogs naturally is a great website to go with a whole dog journal is another one that I look into a lot. I also follow certain veterinarians and doctors dr. Judy Morgan is absolutely amazing. Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Habib have a lot of great information on the, on the internet. And there’s a pet food company called the answer’s pet food. Their team of veterinarians and staff are absolutely amazing. They have great videos, but what I learned the most from is my customers, you know, their, their stories about their animals and the results we get with great products. That’s where I’ve learned the most from. But if you ever have any questions, you know, you can always hunt me down.

Rover Reporter (16:46):

Yeah. You’ve been a wealth of information, Kyle, we really appreciate you joining us here. If we wanted to find you, where would we look?

KYLE BAKER (16:56):

Well, I work at I work for the dog perfect company. We have three locations. We have one in the Lakewood ranch area. We have one on university across from UTC, and we also have one in South Sarasota and a Plaza called landings. It’s in between Clark road in and be rich. But if you need some, if you, if, if you need something direct that you want to talk to me about or touch up on certain subjects there is a link on dog Perfect’s website for an, for a nutritional consultant. And as long as you click on that and fill out that information, that will send a email directly to me, and I can get in contact with you to let you know what stores are, Matt and what, and to see what actually works best for you. And then we can do a free, a nutritional consultation. I can address your address, any questions you have, I can kind of down foods that you’re already feeding. And I can introduce some of the things that I really love in this pen industry is by adding raw, fresh ingredients to your diet, either substitute some of your kibble with that or adding bras, goats, milk, cow Keifers, and other things to the diet to add more hydration and better nutrients to your dog’s life.

Rover Reporter (18:10):

That sounds great, Kyle, and then the nutritional consult that’s free?

KYLE BAKER (18:14):

It’s not a hundred percent free. I am proud to do this for free, and I’m very happy to do it. This is a this isn’t a job for me. This is a passion I’ve been blessed in this world that the community of Sarasota Manatee County has afforded me to allow me to do what I love. I felt like I haven’t worked a day in my life. That’s awesome.

Rover Reporter (18:35):

Awesome. Well, thanks again for joining us. And again, if you’re trying to reach Kyle, you can visit dogperfect.com and there’s a link to fill out a form for a consult. I’m Mary Lou Davidson, the Rover Reporter. Thanks for joining us.

Disclaimer:   Remember to always check with your veterinarian about your dog’s health and for annual visits.   

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Kristen Collins is the Director of Anti-Cruelty Behavior Services for ASPCA.  Ms. Collins’ work with the ACBT focuses on the evaluation and proper placement of animals seized in dog fighting, puppy mill and hoarding cases. Through specialized behavior assessments, the team gathers information to ensure the best outcome for victims of animal cruelty and provide supporting evidence for prosecution.     Kristen was on the scene in Joplin, Missouri last year during the pet relief program for tornado victims helping to re-unite and re-home more than 1300 pets.

In this episode of the Dogcast, Kristen talks with our Rover Reporter about how to read your pets emotions through body language,  breaking bad habits and the ASPCA’s virtual training site.  The web site is a vast resource of articles and solutions that are searchable by type of pet and the type of problem your are experiencing.  Available 24/7 it offers pet owners a chance to research and understand their pets by accessing expert opinions.

About the ASPCA:  Founded in 1866, the ASPCA was the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere. Our mission, as stated by founder Henry Bergh, is “to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.” The ASPCA works to rescue animals from abuse, pass humane laws and share resources with shelters nationwide.

Click on the arrow below for Kristen’s insights

The post Kristen Collins of the ASPCA – Communicating with your Dog appeared first on Sarasota Dog.

Join Rover Reporter and Neil Sattin as they discuss an alternative training method that make sense. Become the center of your dog’s universe, so that he has complete focus on you, and feels relaxed in his relationship with you — – instead of the domination-alpha training method as espoused by Cesar Milan. Learn more about Neil’s training at NaturalDogBlog.com

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A condition of an abnormally high heart rate.  Dr. Anne Chauvet of Critical Care and Veterinary Specialists explains in this audio definition.  Click on the arrow to play.

The post Tachycardia appeared first on Sarasota Dog.

The Pituitary Glands as explained by Dr. Anne Chauvet of Critical Care and Veterinary Specialists of Sarasota.

The post Pituitary Glands appeared first on Sarasota Dog.

Also known as high blood pressure, Hypertension is explained here in Dr. Anne Chauvet’s audio definition.  Just click on the arrow to play.

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