VETtalk TV Blog

This week...
* When is a rabbit, not a rabbit?
* The amazing 'Camera Pill'
* 'Killer' Wind Turbines
* Poster girl Chi Chi highlights animal cruelty

This week...
* Cheetah's Best Friend Could Be A Dog!
* The 5 Fascinating Faces Of Felines
* Meet Brian - The Swimming Surfing Cane Toad Eating Spider

This week...
* Chronic Kidney Disease In Cats
* Have A Heart - Cure Heart Disease
* Chicken Nappies Could Be A Hit!

This week...
* Terrific Titanium For Macaw Miracle
* Lost/Stolen Dog Found 4,000km From Home
* Not So Little Piggy Went To Town!

This week...
* Smarter Than The Average Dog
* Human Animal Bond Deeper Than First Thought
* What Goes'Round Comes 'Round!

“Roses are red, violets are blue... Skip the chocolate and roses…buy me catnip or liver instead!”

Okay – here at VETtalk TV, we really love romance and Valentines Day…we just know that right around the world, there are Vets and nurses gearing up to spend a less than fun-filled time, cleaning up vomit and poos…

Of course nobody in their right mind would feed a pet chocolate these days, unless they’re the modern day equivalent of Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway’ (i.e. no access to any information whatsoever) because everyone knows chocolate contains Theobromine which is poisonous for pets… and the darker the chocolate the more dangerous.

This week...
* Health tracking technology has gone to the dogs…
* 3D printers continue to improve prosthetics
* Bald eagles trained to 'body slam' drones
* Scientists uncover source of animal 'pie-bald' patterns

This week...
* Study proves dog bite victims 'doing the wrong thing'
* Dogs share more than 350 diseases with humans
* Kindy kids lunchtime lizard now the classroom pet!

Plus...
1st Future Vet Kids Camper accepted into VetSci Unit!

Did your pet survive New Year’s Eve fireworks without escaping?
You’re definitely one of the lucky ones.

Our friends at Pet Search, Australia’s longest running and best lost pet locators were horrified to receive 100% more calls about missing pets from around Australia on NYE 2016/2017 than at the same time last year.

To hear possible reasons why and what to do/not do to keep your pets safe – check out our podcast chat with chief dog detective Lee Jefferies

But New Year’s shenanigans aren’t the only threat to your pet’s safety – as Lee Jefferies explains in this guest blog especially prepared for VETtalk TV.com

This week...
* French police dog 'Diesel' is the world’s latest hero after recent terrorist attacks
* Got a pet emergency? Melbourne couple urge people to ALWAYS phone ahead first
* A love-struck Bulldog got her head stuck in a cat door while chasing down a potential mate!

Do you sleep with your pet? Research shows vast numbers of us do and we laugh off the idea that their shifting, shaking, scratching and middle-of-the-night-toileting might have any effect on us.

But we shouldn’t.

It's a weird looking insect and you could be forgiven for thinking it doesn’t look in the least bit scary.  

A tiny dot half the size of your little finger-nail with 6 teensy legs near its head. To be honest - it’s highly unlikely Hollywood would ever consider making a block-buster with the title "Tick Dundee” or “Tickman” or “Teenage Mutant Ninja Ticks”.

Which is a pity because when it comes to killer Aussie predators…the Paralysis Tick is right up there alongside our poisonous snakes and killer spiders.

The Good…

Do you grow lavender at home? Do your dogs or cats love its fragrant smell? 

Our 'old boy' Cosmo - (Min. Poodle sadly no longer with us) would often spend literally hours rolling in or brushing up against the rows of lavender bush in our back yard.

Cosmo was a ‘busy’ dog. Always up to something. But after his ‘lavender loving’ sessions, he’d come inside covered in bits of purple flower, happy as anything then lay down and sleep for hours!

We know various aromas can affect people and help de-stress so we thought we’d check out what research had been done into pets and how various smells affect them, and sure enough – a study by Dr. Deborah Wells in Ireland looked at the effect of Lavender oil on dogs, in particular whether it could have a calming effect on dogs and reduce excitement.

The sad facts speak for themselves. Some dogs manage to escape only once. These are the ones that don't make it home becoming either a road statistic or a pound inmate, where - if not identified - they're euthanased. A tiny percentage of these strays get 'lucky' and are re-sold to a new owner.

Statistics show that a dog will manage to escape his or her 'escape proof' yard 2-3 times on average, during its life.

That's too much like playing Russian Roulette for our liking - so here are some common reasons dogs escape and some solutions courtesy of www.boomerangid.com.au 

We often get asked "HEELLP!... how can I stop my young dog eating his poo'?"... 

First of all – don’t be embarrassed, poo-eating better known as copraphagia is surprisingly common!  

Plus dogs such as Labradors seem to be the dog world’s equivalent of a vacuum cleaner – they’re willing to try to eat just about anything and everything but many other breeds of dog do this too .

There are lots of reasons dogs will eat their own droppings but the good news is that this can be fixed. 

OMG – I’m mortified. Worse. I feel ridiculously guilty.

You see, my dog nearly caused an elderly Asian lady to have a heart attack.

I’d just gone outside to bring in the rubbish bins and thought nothing of letting my little gal accompany me so she could sniff the grass and enjoy whatever odours other passers by had left. It was mid-afternoon, nobody around, benefit of working from home.

Do you or someone you know suffer from allergies? 

So do our pets… but their reaction to things like pollen, dust mites or weeds is very different to the sneezing and runny eyes humans get.

It's raining cats and dogs! Well, not really but across South-Eastern Australia right now it almost feels like the annual wet season. 

And that can mean 'soggy doggies'.

You see, most dogs these days are 'inside dogs' but they’re trained to go outside to do their 'business'.

But what happens when it’s raining?

When the temperature drops… does your enthusiasm for outdoor doggy walks drop too?

I have to confess – mine does – but when I get the ‘doe-eyes’ from little Ms Troublemaker that it’s ‘that time of the day’, well, what’s a little -10 degrees icy wind chill factor compared to a happy dog? (ok – so maybe that’s a slight temperature exaggeration). 

But depending on your location, the fair-dinkum outside weather conditions and your breed of pet, there are some fun indoor alternatives to walkies which will get you over the winter hump without fear of frost-bite.

New research shows dogs are more willing to trust a ‘new’ human than a familiar but ‘untrustworthy’ one.

If you’ve ever played the old ‘fake throw’ game where you pretend to throw a ball or other object for a dog to fetch…then you’ll know it’s a pretty short-lived game.

The dog very quickly susses out that you’re tricking them and refuses to take a step until they’ve ascertained you really have thrown something.