Keeping Our Pets Safe

Dr. Chad Dodd joins us to talk about ways we can keep our four legged friends safe and happy.

How you can c1 joining us tonight is dr. chad dot.

He is a veterinarian and will talk to us about how we can make sure our pets are staying healthy and how we know they're ready to get out with other pups.

>> hi doctor, how are you?

>> i'm doing great.

>> tell us about the idea to make sure our pets are safe to get to the dog park.

>> many of us have spent weeks and months at home with our pets.

We're trying to cope them active.

Now it's starting to open up, there's a lot we can do to make sure our pups are ready for this.

Just keep an eye on your pet instead of knowing how active are they.

Doing a quick make over.

Making sure their nails are in good shape.

If they happen to be a dog with a thick, fur coat and you're planning to go to a groomer and haven't gotten in, try not to over do it.

The temperatures are going up.

It's getting hot.

We definitely don't want to over do it.

My best advice, do a quick assessment with your pet.

Key an eye on the things you know are normal for them.

If you start to see things that are maybe not quite normal, they seem to be slowing down a little bit, or even that first time you get out for the walk, if they seem a little slow, maybe they seem hesitant to do something they normally do, a great time to check with the vet to make sure there's nothing going on.

A lot of dogs have mobility issues and as we start to introduce them back out on their normal routines, these are the things we want to keep an eye on.

>> we want to make sure we're up-to-date with our shots and treatment of those fleas and all of that.

They did probably take a break if they weren't able to go to the vet.

The great thing about the local vet around here, they could come up and get the dog, bring the dog inside.

Take care of it and bring it back out.

We had kind of an interesting situation out here in missouri.

But definitely good information.

>> so, how can you say, how can we recognize if there's something wrong with our dog?

I know that my dog has been hanging out with me on the couch.

He might be a little out of shape as am i.

>> [laughter] >> yes.

This is one of those things knowing who your dog sort of normal routine is, is really important.

For folks with senior dogs, 8, nine, 10 years old.

They maybe used to watching their dog and know when spring and summer comes out and want to go for a walk, they may have to adjust things and make sure they're doing right thing.

The easiest thing is to keep an eye on your pet.

Look at their daily behaviors.

If they're getting up and down a little slower than normal, you know if they're restless and want to get out and about and seem hesitant when they go outside, those could be sign they have a mobility issue.

If you talk to your veterinarian.

A lot of doing telemedicine cult.

We're doing our conversation today.

You know you can get on the line with them.

They can talk you through certain thing, but of course, they need to lay their hands on your pet to do an assessment.

There's a lot of advice.

Just the simple things to keep an eye on them.

If you do get them outside on a walk, don't go back to the daily routine you had 10 or 12 weeks ago.

Just like you and i, we need to build up our stamina and do that for our dogs.

Schedule time, come up with a plan.

You know work on maybe a couple quick walks up and down your neighborhood or in the area you're in.

I encourage everybody to make sure understand the rules in place.

Even though your city may be opening up.

The dog parks maybe off limits or if they are open, maybe restrictions there.

You want to be careful of that.

As you're assessing your pet.

Really the pet owner, you know your pet best.

And you're going to pick up on these signs.

The best thing to do, if you see something you're curious about and not sure is that normal or abnormal, don't hesitate to contact your vet.

>> and you know a lot of people got puppies during the covid pandemic in the quarantine.

Now they're getting out for the first time.

I will have to have my dog take me for a walk tonight.

>> the great thing about going on a walk with your dog, benefits happen at both ends of the leash.