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You want your pet to be as happy and healthy as possible. But while this sounds simple, the number of decisions that need to be made to best care for them can quickly become overwhelming.
These 10 most common "mistakes" can be made by anyone but, with a little planning and action, you can soon be well on the way to providing everything your furry family member needs so they can live the life they deserve.
Click here to download your free copy of this infographic complete with links to the action steps needed to make a real difference to your pet’s long-term health and wellbeing
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Full Transcript →
The following is an AI generated transcription:
Welcome to the Call, The Vet show, the podcast that helps pet parents understand and optimize the health of their furry family so they can live the full and happy life you want for them. And here's your host, veterinarian Dr. Alex Avery.
Hello, Kia ora. Welcome back to another episode of The Call, the Vet podcast. I'm veterinarian Dr. Alex, your host in these parts, and I'm delighted that you're joining me in this. You could perhaps argue my first proper episode of the New Year. And I want to to, to bring you kind of a list post because I was thinking about some of the the kind of pieces of information that we've gone through over recent months and the last few years, really.
And something comes up a lot in that we're often talking about the same or similar or related issues. And with that, I wanted to talk about the ten most common mistakes that every parent should avoid. The ten most common mistakes that I see as a veterinarian in general practice at the front line, if you like, of our pets, health care, of trying to keep them as happy and healthy as possible in the first instance, but also dealing with the many and varied issues that that can affect their health and their well being throughout their lives, big or small, in numerous different ways. Some very common, some perhaps less common.
But a lot of the time we're dealing with very similar situations where mistakes is maybe a little bit of a strong word, because if because because we really don't know what we don't know, but things that maybe if you take action steps to avoid these mistakes, in inverted commas, you're going to go a really long way to avoiding some of the real serious implications that can result for them.
But before we get into that, I hope that you're keeping very well. No matter where you are in the world. It's the end of the school holidays here in our lower New Zealand and the north of the country is being absolutely hammered by floods. I know that bad weather has been a feature of many people's recent past and I hope no matter where you are, that you are keeping you and your family very safe and otherwise well.
If your new listening to this show, while this is the show for all pet parents who want to do the best they possibly can to keep their furry family members as happy and healthy as possible or to best tackle whatever comes their way in the future. So if that sounds like something you're interested in learning more about over the coming weeks and months, then make sure you hit that follow button, that subscribe button and whatever app you're listening to this on. And if you're a long time listener, then then welcome back.
I'm delighted that you've taken the time to share your earbuds with me. And just before I jump into the list, as always, you can find a full transcription and some more detailed notes over in the show notes you can head over to those at call the vet dot org and there's a link down in the show notes of this episode, but you can also download a comprehensive PDF which has lots of clickable links to dive deeper into some of the things that we're going to be talking about.
So I'd really encourage you to head over to those show notes down, get your download and dive deep and actually come up with a specific plan. Think about what action steps that you can take as a result of this episode that will really have the biggest impact for you and your furry family member. Because as with all things, it's it's great getting more information and feeling better armed to tackle things.
But actually if we don't take the action that's needed, then the education that we're receiving really is just entertainment. So I'd encourage you to head over to the show notes, grab that free download and really dive deep into these topics.
And now on with the show.
And mistake number one will probably come as no surprise if you've listened to any previous episode really, and that is poor weight recognition. Now 60% of our dogs and cats are overweight. That's pretty much a uniform statistic no matter where you are in the world. And it's a statistic that's only getting worse. But unfortunately, three out of every five owners with overweight pets believe that their furry family member is actually a healthy weight.
So really, people, we are not recognizing when our pets are heavier than they should be. And lots of us just believe that a bit of padding, it's simply cute and it's really nothing to worry about. But make no mistake, being overweight reduces quality of life. It shortens lifespan by up to up to two years, and that's a huge proportion of a pet's life. And it makes conditions like arthritis, diabetes and skin disease so much more likely. Really, the action step here is to to learn how to tell whether your pet is a healthy weight.
And again, there's links to some of those action steps as well as a whole lot more that I'm going to talk about over in the show notes. Mistake number two is neglecting oral hygiene. So here again, this is an incredibly common problem. 80% of dogs and cats have some form of dental disease by three years of age. And this clearly makes preventive dental care incredibly important because not only is dental disease very painful, much like obesity, being overweight, having bad teeth, having calculus, having gingivitis, having inflamed gums, it reduces quality of life and it actually impacts whole body health.
Now, very often parents that I see in my clinic, they don't realize that there is any problem going on because after all our our pet's teeth, they're not on a ready display every minute of the day. But it's relatively simple for most animals. And I appreciate some maybe going to be more resistant of this at home than others, but just lifting your pet's lip. Have a look.
Is there brown staining brown deposits on the teeth around that gum line? Are the gums red? If you touch them, do they even bleed? What's their breath smell like? These are all signs that there is dental disease present. That action can be taken to prevent that in the first instance, which is the ideal clearly, but actually address that before it gets to a stage where your animal is choosing to die rather than eat.
And that's actually very often the stage that we only start to recognize a problem when our pets stop eating. And really they are saying, well, this pain is too much for me to maintain the necessities of life. So have a little think about that. And ideally, let's try not to let our pets get in that situation. Mistake number three. And this is something that we've been seeing a whole lot more of as a veterinary profession in recent years because of the pandemic.
And this is improper socialization. But this is not just a pandemic problem. One of the biggest causes of death and rehoming of young adult dogs and cats is actually behavioral problems such as fear, aggression, destructive behavior, or even just toileting outside the litter box in our cats in our cats case.
Proper socialization is vital for both dogs and cats, and this can be something as simple in cats as getting them used to their carrier cage in the car, getting them used to different people, different noises, different sights, different sounds, different experiences. It's really important to ensure long term behavioral stability and mental well-being. We often think of socialization as a young animal thing, so our our kittens and especially our puppies.
But we can do this with older dogs as well. We can work on a socialization strategy for our older animals who perhaps didn't have that exposure at a younger age. It's going to take longer. It's going to involve smaller, more gradual steps, but it is just as valuable and really changes can be made to your pet's mental wellbeing. Mistake number four is missing the signs of pain.
So I've already talked about oral hygiene and how that can cause pain. But actually I'm here thinking mainly of arthritis, which is one of the most common long term diseases of both dogs and cats as they age. But it's not restricted to just elderly animals.
And sometimes the signs, especially the early signs in both dogs and cats. But cats, again, are very different to dogs and are very good at hiding their pain. The early signs are very easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for.
Thankfully, I've got a list of all of the signs of pains of dogs and cats, both in the show notes, but also if you head over to another free resource, if you go to our pets health dot com slash resources or the navigation bar at our pets health dot com for free resources, you'll find all of my free resources to help you avoid some of these mistakes and help you optimize the health of your pet. Now, having said that, the first mistake is failing to recognize obesity.
The fifth mistake is actually ignoring weight loss. So while being too heavy is common, so too is ignoring persistent and unplanned weight loss even in the face of apparent good health. You know, very often intestinal worms are blamed. However, insidious weight loss is often more an indicator of something more serious, a disease that is slowly kind of creeping and taking hold within the body. You know, here I'm thinking of diabetes, of kidney disease, of thyroid disease, of liver disease.
There's a huge number of different issues. But actually, weight loss can be an early indicator as well as that. You know, looking at changes in your pet's appetite, are they eating more? Do they seem hungry despite losing weight or has their appetite kind of tailed off and they're really become picky when that wasn't an issue before? Also, their thirst, are they drinking more than they used to? Are are you having to fill that water bottle? Is it being emptied at a rapid rate of knots? They're also really important early indicators of something being amiss.
Mistake number six is relying on supplements. Now, supplements can play a very important role in the management plan of a great many different conditions. Arthritis that we've already mentioned is but one. But in really all cases, they should never be relied on as the only intervention made. And unfortunately their effect is often overinterpreted for a number of different reasons. And to make matters even worse, the supplement industry is also full of products that claim the world but actually deliver very little.
So while supplements can be incredibly valuable and are incredibly valuable to many of our pets, they really should not be there. Well, they never are the be all end all and there is definite some care needed when deciding which supplement is right for you and your furry family.
Mistake number seven is neglecting mental wellbeing and this is something that I've spoken about more and more over recent years and something that I've been thinking more and more about recently as well. So while your pet may be physically healthy, can the same be said for their mental wellbeing? Now part of this goes back to that socialization, but all too often the importance of this mental wellbeing is neglected, meaning that our pets, they're bored, they're under stimulated or completely unstimulated, and they're certainly not living their best life.
And this is where taking steps to ensure environmental enrichment is a part of your dog's life, in your cat's life. Especially true for indoor cats. But using puzzle feeders, simple trick training, rotating toys can make all the difference for our pet's mental wellbeing to make sure that they aren't just physically healthy, but they really are living their best life.
Mistake number eight is microchip failure, and this isn't actually a failure of the microchip itself. It's either a case of not microchipping your pet or not keeping your details up to date. Both of these are really important for any dog or cat can slip their collar or sneak out of an open door, can get scared and bolt and never be seen again. And the microchip may be the only chance you have of finding them, of having them returned to you.
So please get your pets microchipped and make sure if you move, if you change your details, your address, your cell phone, whatever it is, make sure that your details are kept up to date on your local and national database.
Mistake number nine and we're on the homestretch here is a lack of financial planning. So having a pet can be expensive and is expensive in many cases.
So ownership for a dog is estimated to be about 1500 dollars every year and about $600 a year. For cats. These costs are higher in the first year where we've got a greater number of vaccinations, a great number of purchases, more procedures and things to set them up for a life of health.
And these figures all assume that your pet stays healthy. So if some misfortune, some mishap, some accidents, some disease comes their way, then those costs are going to climb. Now, a future episode and a future thought I want to talk about is should you have a pet if you can't afford their care? Yeah, I guess a sneak preview is that. Yes, I think that you should still have a pet if you can't afford the top level care.
But I think there is a bare minimum and I think going into pet ownership with your eyes wide open, being aware of these costs and having a plan in place for how you're going to cover these costs or deal with situations where there are potential high cost needed is very important. Now, pet insurance is one option here, but it's not the only option.
And then mistake number ten, and I'm going to admit that I am a bit biased here, but it is avoiding the vet. But really, your vet, your pets vet is the best person to give you specific, highly individualized health advice for your pet.
They are the only people who can accurately diagnose any problem and give you advice that is going to be really tailored to you. Your particular situation, your pet's temperament, their previous history. So you really need to take anything that you find online that you listen to in podcasts. And I'm including myself in this. Absolutely. With a grain of salt and with the understanding that I don't know your situation, the resources available to you, what is able to be done.
You know, there's a whole range of different factors that make the care of our pets very individual with no one size fits all. And this is something that I really do believe that if someone is saying something in black and white, right and wrong, yes or no, good or bad, then that's really not the whole truth. Because the care of our pets is multiple shades of gray. And there are very few scenarios where what is absolutely right for one person is the same for every single pet parent and pet out there.
So finding a vet you trust is absolutely crucial. And also I'd encourage you to utilize the expertise of the whole veterinary team. So, you know, here I'm thinking the customer service staff on the front desk, but also our technicians and nurses who in a great many different situations for queries that you may have, are going to give you a much more comprehensive and better answer than your veterinarian might.
Helping your pet live the happy, healthy life they deserve.
And again, if you want to dive into any of these mistakes in inverted commas in more detail, you want to deep dive into some of the action steps that you can take to avoid them and really to optimize your pet's health.
Then you can find the link in the show notes or you can head over to our pets health dot com slash resources where you'll find a wealth of free resources to help you do just that. So that's it for for me for this episode of the call the vet show. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you found it interesting, informative and above all, actionable. And please take action. I'd really encourage you to to sit down and think about this. And really your pet is going to thank you for that in the long term.
If you have enjoyed this show, then I'd love it if you would be able to share it with any pet owning friends or family that may be in your sphere, or just maybe sharing a link on your social media profile just to help me in my mission, to help more, more people, more pets and more families out there, no matter where they are in the world, and no matter what resources and veterinary availability they have open to them. And with that in mind, I've got a load of hopefully fantastic episodes planned for the very near future. So make sure you hit that subscribe and follow button and until the next episode, I'm veterinarian Dr. Alex. This is the call the vet show because they're family.
That's it for this episode of The Call the vet show. Be sure to visit, call the vet dot org to join the conversation, access the show notes and discover our fantastic bonus content. We'll see you next time.
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