Encephalitis, Meningitis and More

Marty and Laura tackle a really tough topic today, talking about encephalitis and meningitis and other assorted brain and spinal cord inflammation.

“These are scary because the dogs get very sick and it’s a very difficult diagnosis to make,” Marty said. “It usually requires some advanced imaging, some advanced testing. It’s not an easy diagnosis to nail down and it’s not an easy treatment to develop.

This category of illness is complicated due to the variety of causes, from bacterial infection to autoimmune mediated, and the vagueness of the symptoms, Marty added.

“Sometimes you have to just say, okay, we’re going to use a pretty hefty antibiotic and we’re

going to do a pretty hefty anti-inflammatory dose,” Marty said. “And you’re going to like pray like mad and hope like hell that you’re making the right decisions. And sometimes you don’t simply because you don’t have the ability to get the information you need at all or quickly enough to make those decisions because you don’t have 10 days. I mean, you literally may not have 10 days to get this figured out.” 

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Managing Grief Over Pet Passing

Marty and Laura are joined by Lindsay Stanton, grief coach and author to discuss managing grief after losing a pet.

“At the end of the day, grief and trauma run down very parallel paths,” Stanton noted. “And depending on the type of grief that you’re experiencing, it can be extremely traumatic. And depending on the way the person or pet passed, it can be extremely traumatic.”

“If you’re really a dog person or really a cat person, you understand the gravity of that loss,” Marty said. “And society oftentimes minimizes it by saying, well, it’s just a dog, it’s just a cat, and it’s really insensitive. And it’s really inappropriate because we need to help people and for children especially, not that this is easy as an adult either, but for children especially, this may be the first loss that they experience before a grandparent or before a parent is lost, it may be a pet.

“And so unfortunately, this can be a learning experience for younger people to learn to navigate through, how grief happens, the stages of grief and how to be kind to yourself. Sometimes you expect more of yourself than you should be able to provide. So I think it’s permission for people to learn how to grieve.”

Stanton walks our hosts and listeners through various coping skills for managing grief, including yoga, meditation and reiki.

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Types, Causes and Treatment of Seizures

Marty and Laura take on the tough topic of seizures in our pets. They break down the types of seizures, what may cause them and treatment options based on the cause.

Sparked by a listener request to cover the topic when a client dog had a hypoglycemic seizure in a groom shop, this episode is for everyone who owns a dog. All dogs and cats can experience a seizure whether from low blood sugar, ingestion of toxin, various diseases and what is known as “idiopathic epilepsy” which literally means seizures of unknown origins.

“There’s a lot of different reasons that pets can seize,” Marty noted. “First of all, it’s really upsetting when it happens because it’s scary. So it happens fast and they go from looking normal to not normal, and it can be pretty startling.

“The first thing to do if your pet is seizing is give glucose in some form and then seek veterinary care. Glucose can be ice cream, it can be honey, it can be Maple syrup, it can be Cairo syrup, it can be caramels. But the second thing you need to do is go to the veterinary clinic.

“(Glucose) can be absorbed through their gums, so you don’t have to get them to swallow it. If you just have a liquid Karo syrup, honey, Maple syrup, dark Karo syrup, light cover syrup, I don’t care. Any of those are fine. And they can absorb it right through their gums. Do not pry their mouth open and try and pull out their tongue. I can guarantee you’ll get bitten and it is not worth it because they’re not going to choke on their tongue.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

Home Alone

Marty and Laura tackle separation anxiety, a tough topic for folks trying to manage returning to office life while keeping their pooch entertained.

A lot of “pandemic dogs” that have never had 30 seconds of being by themselves, find a new way of life more challenging.

“So there are some things that you can do to help prepare them for being left alone,” Marty said, “whether it’s to go to work or something more significant. And some of them are pharmaceutical and some are non-pharmaceutical. It’s okay to use pharmaceuticals if you need them because it can shorten the learning curve. So I don’t want people to feel guilty or bad or any of those things if they feel like a pharmaceutical assistant to shorten the dog’s learning curve is appropriate.

“A lot of dogs figure out pretty fast if they’re going with you that day or you’re leaving them for that day or they’re going to daycare what’s going to happen based on the pair of shoes that you put on, believe it or not, or which bag you pick up, or whether you’ve got this jacket or that jacket on. 

“It’s called back chaining when they figure those things out is they first see you leave, and then they see you put on the shoes that you wear when you leave, and then they see you put the jacket and the shoes on before you leave, and then they see you pick up the keys. And so they start to back chain. So very quickly, you can see that they’re developing anxiety as you’re prepping to leave them or take them along.”

For a deep dive on this topic, check out this archived episode from Pure Dog Talk.

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.

How do We Give Our Dogs the Best Chance at a Long Life

Marty and Laura walk through best practices for giving our pets the best chance for a long life.

Our hosts share their experiences with losing dogs in old and young ages, while providing detailed recommendations to help our pets live long, productive lives.

“So preventive care is going to be probably the most important,” Marty said. “And that means routine blood work. That means routine dental cleanings, that means the right nutrition.

“There’s some really important things that we can do for (our pets) that are pretty simple and pretty straightforward. They’re not always easy, but they’re pretty straightforward.

“I think going in for a routine blood work, people are like, ‘ohh, I don’t need any, he’s fine.’ No, you’re going to be surprised at what kind of things we can find and preemptively get ahead of whether it’s kidneys, whether it’s liver function issues, whether it’s heartworm disease or some of the tick borne diseases, other disorders that we can see. So if you’re veterinarian says, ‘I think we should do blood work this year and it’s usually an annual thing then you should go up and down with your head and say yes, yes, I think we should do that.”

Marty continues with food recommendations, why dogs should be crated in a car, weight management and more.

Working through final decisions about our pets is incredibly emotional.

“My favorite current book is Promises to My Pet,” Marty said. “It was written by a social worker who wanted to help people go through the process to let their pet go. And basically they go in and you can take pictures from your dog when it was young and you could put all kinds of things in there. But essentially what you’re doing is you’re promising your dog or your cat that you are not extending their life beyond what you think would be reasonable.”

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.