00:00:19
S1: On Vision Australia Radio. You're listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today I have seeing eye dogs lead veterinarian doctor Ash Mooney talking to us about a bunch of vet tips, including cold weather care such as kennel cough, hypothermia, and conjunctivitis that can pop up in these winter months, as well as body condition score, which is a repeat of an interview from the archives. So now let's kick off the show with vet tips from Doctor Ash. So what are some of the health conditions or medical concerns that might be more problematic or might pop up in winter or colder weather?
00:01:01
S2: So obviously when it's quite cold, hypothermia can be a big concern, especially for a dog that is outside all the time. So if you do have a primarily outdoor dog, just always provide somewhere nice and sheltered and heated that they can retreat to. Some dogs don't cope very well with going out in cold weather, especially ones that have quite low body fat or a kind of thin coated breed like a greyhound. So some animals do need to have coats or jackets put on them just to keep them warm. That's not a requirement for all types of dogs. There's lots of types of dogs that have evolved to be out in the snow, like huskies and such. And with our Labradors and golden retrievers, they are quite resilient to the cold as long as they're not just outside indefinitely. They should be okay without needing clothing put on them. Another big problem that we notice in the cold weather is kennel cough. So kind of like humans, the more time you spend indoors, the more likely you are to get exposed to germs that are indoors as well. Um, sometimes you can get a bit immunosuppressed if you've been exposed to the elements. So we do notice a bit of a spike in things like kennel cough sometimes in the winter time. So things to watch out for with kennel cough is the classic kind of goose honk sounding cough or just dry retching. That can be kind of the first symptom. Sometimes you also might notice nasal discharge like a human gets nasal discharge. So if it's just clear, I'm usually not super concerned about it. But if it's a yellow or green colored snot or the dog sounds congested like a person with a cold sounds congested, then they definitely need a vet visit to make sure that they don't need additional medications. Kennel cough is a virus and a bacteria, so it's a broad term for multiple diseases that present in the same way. So if the dog has just the viral component, it resolves resolves itself within a couple of weeks without needing any sort of medications or anything. You just have to keep them warm, keep them fed, hydrated, all of those good things. If the dog is severely unwell, like lethargic, not moving, Congested heaps of gross discharge, then they might have also gotten the bacterial component of kennel cough, and that is something that can be treated with antibiotics if it's indicated by the vet. So that's a situation where I'd recommend going to your local vet, seeing what they have to say. They may or may not decide to put the dog on antibiotics, or they might just give you some medication to help with the congestion.
00:03:32
S1: Is it sort of like the common cold and how do they pick it up?
00:03:37
S2: So it is quite similar to the common cold or Covid. Essentially. Whenever the dog has it, they shed particles of the virus wherever they go. So that can be from like sneezing on things, coughing on things. A big source of contamination is communal water bowls. So often you might hear in the news or something about an outbreak of kennel cough at a dog park. Usually that's because a dog with kennel cough has sneezed on the communal water bowl. Everybody else has gone and drank it. They've all gotten kennel cough themselves, and then they all kind of go and spread it around to each other. Vaccination against kennel cough can definitely help prevent it. Again, similar to how vaccines work in humans, it will significantly reduce the risk of developing the disease. But if the viral load is high enough, you can still get it. So, you know, the dog might be okay if it drinks out of that communal water bowl. But if a dog goes and coughs directly in its face, it could still potentially get sick.
00:04:32
S1: Is it the same type of thing where even if they do get it, if they've got the vaccination, it's less likely to become worst case or harder to manage?
00:04:41
S2: Yeah, definitely. So the vaccine gives you immunity to the disease, so your body is already prepared to fight against it. So it already has a lot of those immune cells kind of waiting for a signal to respond, whereas an unvaccinated dog won't have any of those immune cells. And so the body has to create them all. And that's what takes a lot longer. That's where the dog gets more unwell is because they have to kind of start from, you know, from zero and create all the immune cells, rather than already having some waiting around ready to respond.
00:05:14
S1: And if you have a dog who has kennel cough, should you then keep them away from other dogs, including like one in the public, but then two if you've got pet dogs yourself. Is there a way that you should or shouldn't manage that?
00:05:25
S2: I think if you have your own pet dogs and one of them has signs, it's highly likely that they've already spread it to each other. The only time I would be taking kind of extreme caution with multiple pets within the same home is if you had an immunosuppressed animal. So like if one of your dogs is going through chemotherapy or is pregnant or has some sort of underlying illness, that means that if they get kennel cough on top of that, it's potentially quite dangerous for them. If they've already been mixing, they probably have either been exposed at the same point as each other, or they're already infecting each other in the home environment. I would recommend, though, staying away from public places with your kennel cough animal. So definitely don't go to like communal areas like dog parks, cafes, etc. and if you do have to take them on walks, maybe try to take them on off peak times where you walk them and try to avoid animals approaching them directly. Kennel cough can only spread between dogs, so if you have like a cat or something like that, don't stress out. It's not going to get to your other types of animals.
00:06:27
S1: Are there any particular types of dogs that are more prone or susceptible to kennel cough? Like, you know, elderly or young dogs as well?
00:06:36
S2: Yeah. So puppies technically don't finish their full immunizations until they're about 16 to 18 weeks old. So during that time, their immune system is still quite immature. They're going to be at a much higher risk both for getting the disease and also getting a worse version of the disease. Elderly dogs being old isn't necessarily a health problem where you're immunosuppressed, but if it's an elderly dog that has other conditions and they're potentially on medications or something like that, they could also be more susceptible to it. Or if you haven't vaccinated your animal in a very long time for for whatever reason that might be, that animal will also be more susceptible. It is worth noting that most kennels do require a kennel cough vaccination. It's called kennel cough because it spreads really, really easily between everyone. And the biggest place that happens is in a boarding kennel. So the reason why that the kennels require the vaccination is because, one, they don't want your dog to get sick, but they also don't want your dog to spread it to other dogs who might get sick.
00:07:40
S1: And I gather the name is Kennel Cough. And obviously any kind of higher dog population is more likely to get it. But it's not only in kennels either. So like you said, the dog park thing, I think sometimes, you know, a dog coming and spending time even on our site here might have kennel cough, but it does also come from outside. So it's kind of everywhere anyway as well at the same time.
00:07:59
S2: Yeah. Of course, it's kind of like how if there's an outbreak of the flu at a school, you know, all the kids are really close to each other. They're spending a lot of time in the same room. They're not necessarily washing their hands. Obviously, dogs don't wash their hands, so it's very easy to cross contaminate. Whereas if you are never around other people, maybe you're working from home and you go out to a cafe and somebody happened to cough on a surface that you touch, and then you go to like eat a croissant or something before you wash your hands, you could still get it even though you're not in a high volume situation day to day.
00:08:32
S1: When it comes to what we're kind of talking about as well, with cold weather and hypothermia, or what is hypothermia and how do you prevent it? What are the symptoms? You know, all of that jazz.
00:08:43
S2: Yeah. So hypothermia is essentially your body temperature is below what it should be. So early signs of hypothermia would be shivering. That's the same for humans and animals and cold extremities. So if you were to feel the dogs ears or paws, they might feel quite cold to the touch. When it starts getting more concerning, you might notice the shivering becomes way more pronounced, almost like convulsions. And if you look at the dog's gum, so like if you lift up the lip of the dog, normally their gums are a nice pink color. They might be turning like a white or a blue color in the extreme cases of hypothermia. Even if you're reaching that point, you need to be going to a vet and kind of warming up the animal as you do. But I would always warm up the animal as soon as they start shivering. Yeah.
00:09:33
S1: And are there particular ways that are best to warm up an animal that's particularly cold? I don't know if that's ridiculous or not.
00:09:39
S2: It really depends. If you have like a blanket or something then you can put it on them. Oftentimes in the vet clinic we put like socks on them because you want the circulation to return to their extremities when the body gets too cold. What it does is it pulls all of the blood in toward the core to protect the internal organs. So your internal organs are more essential for life in your body's kind of reasoning than then your limbs are so it brings everything in to protect the organs. And that's why if you see somebody with frostbite, it's typically like their fingers or toes where they'd get frostbite because of that mechanism of the body. So keeping the the feet warm is really good, but it really just depends on where you are when you're noticing the signs. If the dog has perhaps gotten really wet from the rain or it's been swimming, drying them off really well will also help warm them up.
00:10:30
S1: Yeah, I have some dogs that absolutely love being slightly warm or warmer, so they'll always gravitate to something like big and soft and and plush. I find like covering my crate is better because sometimes like my house in winter is just like an ice block. Um, and even the heated blanket or the heated electric pad thing. They just love.
00:10:49
S2: Yeah, yeah, that can definitely help as well.
00:10:52
S1: Are there any other tips that you think are important to note around winter or cold weather?
00:10:58
S2: Just around seasonal change? I do notice as a vet there are periods where a lot of animals all get conjunctivitis. And a big reason for this is that different plants bloom at different times of the year.
00:11:10
S1: What is conjunctivitis?
00:11:12
S2: So conjunctivitis is inflammation of the tissue around the eye. It often presents as kind of excessive discharge from the eyes. So it's quite normal to get a bit of sleep in the eyes first thing in the morning. But with conjunctivitis, even if you wipe that away, it just comes right back. The eyes might also appear itchy, red, swollen. Sometimes it can swell to the point that the eye kind of is swollen shut. Um, so really, as soon as you're noticing the dog is quite irritated by the eye. Or maybe you wipe the discharge off first thing in the morning, it just keeps coming back. It probably means that they have conjunctivitis.
00:11:49
S1: So if you do think that your dog has conjunctivitis, what are some of the ways that you can monitor and or treat it?
00:11:56
S2: Yeah. So if the dog is at the point where the eye is swollen shut or the dog is super, super irritated by it. I would be going to the vet as soon as you can, and depending on the cause of conjunctivitis, the vet might do some tests. They'll look in the eyes and they might prescribe any type of ointment or eye drop. Conjunctivitis can occur for a lot of different reasons, so it can occur from viruses. It can occur from a bacterial infection or it can occur from an allergic um kind of reason. So a big reason why we see it seasonally is that there's different plants that bloom at different times of the year. Even if your dog does not have an allergy to a specific plant, sometimes it can just be irritation from the physical pollen hitting them in the eyes. Um, and that can be enough to, to cause a bit of conjunctivitis situation. So, you know, monitoring, if it's a seasonal thing, if it is for your dog, then maybe preempting with some vet visits when you know it's going to come into that season. Um, If you know your dog has just gotten it randomly, it could still be some sort of environmental reaction. Um, things that can help. Let's say you've noticed your dog has discharge. You want to get them into a vet, but your vet has an appointment in three days time. You can get something called calendula tea from a lot of health food shops or from some chemists. And if you make that up as a normal tea and let it come down to room temperature, it can actually resolve quite mild cases of conjunctivitis. If you do like a little eye, wipe with it twice a day.
00:13:32
S1: So not, you know, not drunk out of a tea cup.
00:13:34
S2: No. Like the dog can definitely safely drink the tea, but it's not going to do anything for the conjunctivitis. It's more like you let it come to room temperature and do a little bathing of the eyes with it, like a little eye mask situation. You can also use sterile saline, which you can get from a chemist. There is a difference between saline and salt water, so don't dunk your dog's head in ocean water because the ocean is contaminated. It's not just salt water. There's lots of other gross stuff in the ocean, so it's actually probably going to make it worse. And just arbitrarily combining salt and tap water is also not the same thing as saline. Because saline has a specific percentage of salt in it. So if you are looking to go down the saltwater route, I recommend just going to a chemist getting some sterile saline. It's like a dollar. It's very, very cheap. Or you can try to source the calendula tea.
00:14:26
S1: Do you find that it gets worse in like in wind or like if you've got a dog, you're out walking and they come back and their eyes are irritated by wind? Is that kind of a similar or different thing?
00:14:37
S2: Yeah, it can definitely be quite similar in how it presents. And the symptoms can be very, very similar between that and like a bacterial conjunctivitis. I guess the main difference is that the wind related conjunctivitis typically goes away as soon as the stimulus is gone. It might take a few hours or a day or so. If you have many windy days in a row, it might take a bit longer, whereas if it's some sort of infectious problem, then it's probably going to linger around.
00:15:03
S1: And would you use something like calendula or saline if it is a kind of wind related.
00:15:08
S2: Yeah, you definitely still can. And no matter what, let's say you're using calendula or saline. No one's expecting you to be a vet and to be able to diagnose what it is. But if it's not resolving within 24, 48 hours of using those home remedies, that's the stage where I would be going to a vet just to make sure you don't have a bigger problem on your hands.
00:15:28
S1: And when it comes to, I guess, making sure that you're not spreading something that might be, you know, viral, how would you do that? Or how would you potentially guess? Or is it really just going to the vet?
00:15:40
S2: It's mainly going to the vet, I guess. Avoid going to public places like dog parks, just like with any sort of infectious situation. There are types of conjunctivitis that can pass between species like pink eye is a common one. Lots of different types of animals can get pink eye. Honestly, you're quite unlikely to get it from your pet as long as you're practicing good hand hygiene and you're not like, actively rubbing your face on their face. Or if your dog with conjunctivitis puts its head on your pillow, maybe change your pillowcase before you sleep just to prevent that kind of cross-contamination. It most of the time, it's not going to be the type of conjunctivitis that is able to spread between species. But just in case it is, it's always good to practice that kind of hygiene.
00:16:23
S1: Are there any other kind of final eye health things that would be worth noting or considering here?
00:16:30
S2: I guess if your animal is in significant distress, like they can't open their eye, there's blood coming out of the eye. You know, that there was some sort of trauma like a stick. Poke them or something. Don't wait around. Don't do the tea or saline. Always get addressed immediately because eye issues can get much worse very quickly, especially if they're quite severe. So you don't want to end up in a situation where maybe there's like a surgery or something that has to happen because you've waited too long.
00:16:57
S1: Good tip. Thank you so much.
00:16:58
S2: Yes. One more tip. If you have had antibiotic eye drops prescribed, do not just randomly use them. If your animal gets conjunctivitis later on, there are certain components in some eye drops that can be contraindicated, so not okay for other conditions, such as if your animal has an ulcer, you never want to use a steroid based eye drop because that can cause really, really, really big problems. So if you've been prescribed something, maybe even for a different animal, don't just assume, oh, it's an eye drop. I can use it for any eye condition. There's actually a lot of different types of eye drops on the market that are used for very specific reasons. And that's why we always recommend an vet check.
00:17:45
S3: So when we talk about.
00:17:46
S1: Body condition score in dogs what what is that. What's the body condition score.
00:17:52
S2: So body condition scoring is pretty much our way of telling whether or not dogs are under or overweight. Given that there's so many different breeds of dogs. So it's not like humans where you can kind of go based off of BMI or just the weight, because a Chihuahua obviously weighs significantly different than a Great Dane. So and going by numbers, if you have a crossbreed or anything, it can be quite difficult to know what amount of kilograms your animal should weigh. So body condition score is much easier. And it's what vets use in conjunction with the weight to determine whether or not your animal is healthy weight. So you can always do a little Google search for a body condition scoring chart. Sometimes those are quite helpful because you can see the little pictures and kind of match the picture to your own animal. But a really basic rundown of it is, what I like to do is run my hands along the ribs of an animal. You should feel their ribs with gentle pressure if they're a nice, healthy weight, if the ribs are just sticking out and you barely have to touch the animal to feel their ribs. They're definitely too skinny. If you have to dig your fingers in to feel the ribs, then they're definitely overweight. So I think that that's a really easy way of judging whether or not your animal is an adequate weight at home. Obviously, things like pregnancy and stuff like that can affect it, but in general it works pretty well for animals. You can also do things like looking to see if they have a waist, you know, a nice little tuck of their tummy. Again, there are lots of lots of photos of these. And the body condition scoring is something that there are charts for pretty much every species for. So if you have a cat or a bird or a horse, you can look up the body condition scoring for those animals as well. And they're just a bit different because the animals have different anatomy.
00:19:42
S1: Is weight a metric of fitness even kind of with like littermates or dogs of the same breed, it.
00:19:47
S2: Can really vary between animals and there are medical conditions that can make it really difficult for an animal to either gain sufficient weight or lose sufficient weight. So, you know, if your animal is at a non-ideal body score and you modify the diet and the exercise and you're not seeing results, you're either not seeing a skinny animal get to a more healthy weight or a chubby animal get skinnier, then it's probably worth discussing with your vet, maybe running a blood test to make sure that there isn't any sort of endocrine or hormonal cause that's preventing them from achieving a healthy weight.
00:20:26
S1: So are there even any kind of other factors that would make, say, a dog of like the same height as another different weight?
00:20:34
S2: Some of it can be musculature, some of it could be the actual diet they're being fed. So you might be at a dog park or something, and you're talking about how you both feed two cups of food to your Labrador a day. But every food has a different amount of calories, so you can't actually go by volume. You have to go by the calories in the food that you're feeding. And pretty much all animal foods have a feeding guide on the back where they tell you how much you should feed and you know what kind of volume equals the appropriate amount of calories. So not all, not all foods are the same for sure. And that that can be a really big factor. And it's something that's often lost when people are talking casually about their animals diets.
00:21:18
S1: I suppose with the kind of feeding chart as well, that would be something to kind of keep in mind that actually that will also depend on dog's exercise needs. So you can't exactly just go that that's got to be it. So if they're fat, then that's not correct because that's what the feeding chart says.
00:21:34
S2: Yeah. So some brands will give you like an active versus inactive animal feeding guide. So if you have a really kind of couch potato animal, it'll tell you to feed a bit less. If you have a working dog that's running 30KA day, you're going to have to feed it more because it's expending more energy. And usually there is a guide on that. Or if you speak to your vet, they might discuss an alternative diet that's more appropriate to your animal's activity levels. I guess it is important to note that the main way that we manage weight in animals is through diet rather than through exercise. Exercise is great for their muscles and their bones and all of that, but it's not going to make a massive difference in their body weight. So if you have a chubby dog that you're trying to get to lose weight, walking an extra K a day won't work as effectively as reducing the amount of food you're feeding it.
00:22:31
S1: When, when we're kind of looking at that, judging the body condition by touch, would that kind of negate some of the issues with kind of thinking, oh, my dog's just fluffy or, or long haired or something?
00:22:44
S2: Yeah, it definitely does affect it. A lot of people, especially now that poodle crosses are really common and they're very fluffy. It can be really hard to tell how large a dog actually is when it's furry. So the running your hands along the ribs, I think is the easiest way of getting an objective measurement. Um, certainly easier than putting it on a scale and trying to piece together what the number means. Your animal might be fat and fluffy and that's fine. I think the other big thing is kind of changing our mindset on what a dog should look like. So for example, I have a golden retriever who is a great body condition. She's kind of right on where I want her to be. You know, being a vets dog, you'd hope that'd be the case. But people often come up to me and tell me that she's too skinny because they're so accustomed to seeing obese golden retrievers that they think that the obese ones are actually what they should look like normally, and that anything that's a healthy body weight is actually too skinny. So I think that if we're constantly seeing overweight animals, it's easy to normalize them. But you need to recognize that just because a lot are overweight, it doesn't mean that they're all healthy. It might just mean that there's a lot of unhealthy animals of that breed.
00:23:59
S1: Isn't it something like half half of dogs are overweight. There's some statistic and it's like mind blowing.
00:24:07
S2: I don't know the actual numbers, but colloquially, from my experiences in private practice, I would say that it would be at least half of them. And sometimes it's people genuinely don't know, or they do think that they're supposed to be bigger. It can be quite difficult when people just get a lot of enjoyment out of feeding their animal. Their animal loves it and their animals happy when they give them food, stuff like that. But I guess it's important to remember that you can kill something with kindness. Making them overweight does predispose them to a lot of issues, issues with their heart. They can get arthritis earlier. They can have things like gastrointestinal or pancreatic issues. They can get diabetes. Really, the list is endless. And on average, an overweight dog actually lives two years less than a normal weight dog.
00:25:00
S1: I think it's really interesting. And I found obviously this kind of anecdotal, but when I was growing up, I had a golden retriever who was a little bit overweight. When I say a little bit, I mean quite overweight when she was growing up and when she actually lost that weight, she was actually just a happier dog. Like she became more active at age seven than she had been when she was three and four because she was many kilos lighter and fit.
00:25:25
S4: Yeah, it does make a big difference.
00:25:26
S1: The last thing I was thinking is for people that have breeds that are kind of maybe bigger or more muscly, and they're not entirely sure what that should look like. Say, I've got a friend who's got a, you know, a bull Arab. So quite kind of big and, and chunky and it's just like solid. Can you work with a probably what say work with a vet to work out what that body should look like?
00:25:48
S2: Yeah, definitely. It can be a bit difficult. I find things like bulldogs and bull Arabs really muscly staffies. Those kinds of dogs can be hard to body condition score because they have so much muscle on them that you can't really tell. And that's also an issue that human athletes face because their muscle weighs so much that it actually puts them in a BMI that's considered overweight, even if they're an Olympian or something. And they're clearly a very fit individual. So you can that's definitely a situation where I'd work with your vet, the the body condition scoring to some degree will work because typically the muscles that overlie the ribs don't get super massive. Your dog isn't out there doing any like lat exercises and stuff like that. Usually you can still do the running your hands along the ribs trick with a very muscly dog. But if your dog just has a kind of awkward body shape and you really can't tell, just bring them into the vet and we can always discuss a plan and figure out if it's actually a good way or not for your animal. It's just us giving you that advice because we want what's best for them and what's going to keep them healthiest for longest. It's not a commentary on who you are as a person or your lifestyle or any of that. It's not meant to be offensive. We're just meant to be championing the welfare of your pet.
00:27:13
S5: You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interviews with ash and our vet tips, giving you some information and insight into some of the common cold weather, medical conditions as well as body condition score. If you'd like to find out more about seeing eye dogs, the work we do, or how you can help, head to our website at Vision australia.org. Thank you for listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show. Don't forget to tune in same time next week for another episode. Have a lovely week.
S1: On Vision Australia Radio. You're listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show with me, your host, Harriet Moffatt. Today I have seeing eye dogs lead veterinarian doctor Ash Mooney talking to us about a bunch of vet tips, including cold weather care such as kennel cough, hypothermia, and conjunctivitis that can pop up in these winter months, as well as body condition score, which is a repeat of an interview from the archives. So now let's kick off the show with vet tips from Doctor Ash. So what are some of the health conditions or medical concerns that might be more problematic or might pop up in winter or colder weather?
00:01:01
S2: So obviously when it's quite cold, hypothermia can be a big concern, especially for a dog that is outside all the time. So if you do have a primarily outdoor dog, just always provide somewhere nice and sheltered and heated that they can retreat to. Some dogs don't cope very well with going out in cold weather, especially ones that have quite low body fat or a kind of thin coated breed like a greyhound. So some animals do need to have coats or jackets put on them just to keep them warm. That's not a requirement for all types of dogs. There's lots of types of dogs that have evolved to be out in the snow, like huskies and such. And with our Labradors and golden retrievers, they are quite resilient to the cold as long as they're not just outside indefinitely. They should be okay without needing clothing put on them. Another big problem that we notice in the cold weather is kennel cough. So kind of like humans, the more time you spend indoors, the more likely you are to get exposed to germs that are indoors as well. Um, sometimes you can get a bit immunosuppressed if you've been exposed to the elements. So we do notice a bit of a spike in things like kennel cough sometimes in the winter time. So things to watch out for with kennel cough is the classic kind of goose honk sounding cough or just dry retching. That can be kind of the first symptom. Sometimes you also might notice nasal discharge like a human gets nasal discharge. So if it's just clear, I'm usually not super concerned about it. But if it's a yellow or green colored snot or the dog sounds congested like a person with a cold sounds congested, then they definitely need a vet visit to make sure that they don't need additional medications. Kennel cough is a virus and a bacteria, so it's a broad term for multiple diseases that present in the same way. So if the dog has just the viral component, it resolves resolves itself within a couple of weeks without needing any sort of medications or anything. You just have to keep them warm, keep them fed, hydrated, all of those good things. If the dog is severely unwell, like lethargic, not moving, Congested heaps of gross discharge, then they might have also gotten the bacterial component of kennel cough, and that is something that can be treated with antibiotics if it's indicated by the vet. So that's a situation where I'd recommend going to your local vet, seeing what they have to say. They may or may not decide to put the dog on antibiotics, or they might just give you some medication to help with the congestion.
00:03:32
S1: Is it sort of like the common cold and how do they pick it up?
00:03:37
S2: So it is quite similar to the common cold or Covid. Essentially. Whenever the dog has it, they shed particles of the virus wherever they go. So that can be from like sneezing on things, coughing on things. A big source of contamination is communal water bowls. So often you might hear in the news or something about an outbreak of kennel cough at a dog park. Usually that's because a dog with kennel cough has sneezed on the communal water bowl. Everybody else has gone and drank it. They've all gotten kennel cough themselves, and then they all kind of go and spread it around to each other. Vaccination against kennel cough can definitely help prevent it. Again, similar to how vaccines work in humans, it will significantly reduce the risk of developing the disease. But if the viral load is high enough, you can still get it. So, you know, the dog might be okay if it drinks out of that communal water bowl. But if a dog goes and coughs directly in its face, it could still potentially get sick.
00:04:32
S1: Is it the same type of thing where even if they do get it, if they've got the vaccination, it's less likely to become worst case or harder to manage?
00:04:41
S2: Yeah, definitely. So the vaccine gives you immunity to the disease, so your body is already prepared to fight against it. So it already has a lot of those immune cells kind of waiting for a signal to respond, whereas an unvaccinated dog won't have any of those immune cells. And so the body has to create them all. And that's what takes a lot longer. That's where the dog gets more unwell is because they have to kind of start from, you know, from zero and create all the immune cells, rather than already having some waiting around ready to respond.
00:05:14
S1: And if you have a dog who has kennel cough, should you then keep them away from other dogs, including like one in the public, but then two if you've got pet dogs yourself. Is there a way that you should or shouldn't manage that?
00:05:25
S2: I think if you have your own pet dogs and one of them has signs, it's highly likely that they've already spread it to each other. The only time I would be taking kind of extreme caution with multiple pets within the same home is if you had an immunosuppressed animal. So like if one of your dogs is going through chemotherapy or is pregnant or has some sort of underlying illness, that means that if they get kennel cough on top of that, it's potentially quite dangerous for them. If they've already been mixing, they probably have either been exposed at the same point as each other, or they're already infecting each other in the home environment. I would recommend, though, staying away from public places with your kennel cough animal. So definitely don't go to like communal areas like dog parks, cafes, etc. and if you do have to take them on walks, maybe try to take them on off peak times where you walk them and try to avoid animals approaching them directly. Kennel cough can only spread between dogs, so if you have like a cat or something like that, don't stress out. It's not going to get to your other types of animals.
00:06:27
S1: Are there any particular types of dogs that are more prone or susceptible to kennel cough? Like, you know, elderly or young dogs as well?
00:06:36
S2: Yeah. So puppies technically don't finish their full immunizations until they're about 16 to 18 weeks old. So during that time, their immune system is still quite immature. They're going to be at a much higher risk both for getting the disease and also getting a worse version of the disease. Elderly dogs being old isn't necessarily a health problem where you're immunosuppressed, but if it's an elderly dog that has other conditions and they're potentially on medications or something like that, they could also be more susceptible to it. Or if you haven't vaccinated your animal in a very long time for for whatever reason that might be, that animal will also be more susceptible. It is worth noting that most kennels do require a kennel cough vaccination. It's called kennel cough because it spreads really, really easily between everyone. And the biggest place that happens is in a boarding kennel. So the reason why that the kennels require the vaccination is because, one, they don't want your dog to get sick, but they also don't want your dog to spread it to other dogs who might get sick.
00:07:40
S1: And I gather the name is Kennel Cough. And obviously any kind of higher dog population is more likely to get it. But it's not only in kennels either. So like you said, the dog park thing, I think sometimes, you know, a dog coming and spending time even on our site here might have kennel cough, but it does also come from outside. So it's kind of everywhere anyway as well at the same time.
00:07:59
S2: Yeah. Of course, it's kind of like how if there's an outbreak of the flu at a school, you know, all the kids are really close to each other. They're spending a lot of time in the same room. They're not necessarily washing their hands. Obviously, dogs don't wash their hands, so it's very easy to cross contaminate. Whereas if you are never around other people, maybe you're working from home and you go out to a cafe and somebody happened to cough on a surface that you touch, and then you go to like eat a croissant or something before you wash your hands, you could still get it even though you're not in a high volume situation day to day.
00:08:32
S1: When it comes to what we're kind of talking about as well, with cold weather and hypothermia, or what is hypothermia and how do you prevent it? What are the symptoms? You know, all of that jazz.
00:08:43
S2: Yeah. So hypothermia is essentially your body temperature is below what it should be. So early signs of hypothermia would be shivering. That's the same for humans and animals and cold extremities. So if you were to feel the dogs ears or paws, they might feel quite cold to the touch. When it starts getting more concerning, you might notice the shivering becomes way more pronounced, almost like convulsions. And if you look at the dog's gum, so like if you lift up the lip of the dog, normally their gums are a nice pink color. They might be turning like a white or a blue color in the extreme cases of hypothermia. Even if you're reaching that point, you need to be going to a vet and kind of warming up the animal as you do. But I would always warm up the animal as soon as they start shivering. Yeah.
00:09:33
S1: And are there particular ways that are best to warm up an animal that's particularly cold? I don't know if that's ridiculous or not.
00:09:39
S2: It really depends. If you have like a blanket or something then you can put it on them. Oftentimes in the vet clinic we put like socks on them because you want the circulation to return to their extremities when the body gets too cold. What it does is it pulls all of the blood in toward the core to protect the internal organs. So your internal organs are more essential for life in your body's kind of reasoning than then your limbs are so it brings everything in to protect the organs. And that's why if you see somebody with frostbite, it's typically like their fingers or toes where they'd get frostbite because of that mechanism of the body. So keeping the the feet warm is really good, but it really just depends on where you are when you're noticing the signs. If the dog has perhaps gotten really wet from the rain or it's been swimming, drying them off really well will also help warm them up.
00:10:30
S1: Yeah, I have some dogs that absolutely love being slightly warm or warmer, so they'll always gravitate to something like big and soft and and plush. I find like covering my crate is better because sometimes like my house in winter is just like an ice block. Um, and even the heated blanket or the heated electric pad thing. They just love.
00:10:49
S2: Yeah, yeah, that can definitely help as well.
00:10:52
S1: Are there any other tips that you think are important to note around winter or cold weather?
00:10:58
S2: Just around seasonal change? I do notice as a vet there are periods where a lot of animals all get conjunctivitis. And a big reason for this is that different plants bloom at different times of the year.
00:11:10
S1: What is conjunctivitis?
00:11:12
S2: So conjunctivitis is inflammation of the tissue around the eye. It often presents as kind of excessive discharge from the eyes. So it's quite normal to get a bit of sleep in the eyes first thing in the morning. But with conjunctivitis, even if you wipe that away, it just comes right back. The eyes might also appear itchy, red, swollen. Sometimes it can swell to the point that the eye kind of is swollen shut. Um, so really, as soon as you're noticing the dog is quite irritated by the eye. Or maybe you wipe the discharge off first thing in the morning, it just keeps coming back. It probably means that they have conjunctivitis.
00:11:49
S1: So if you do think that your dog has conjunctivitis, what are some of the ways that you can monitor and or treat it?
00:11:56
S2: Yeah. So if the dog is at the point where the eye is swollen shut or the dog is super, super irritated by it. I would be going to the vet as soon as you can, and depending on the cause of conjunctivitis, the vet might do some tests. They'll look in the eyes and they might prescribe any type of ointment or eye drop. Conjunctivitis can occur for a lot of different reasons, so it can occur from viruses. It can occur from a bacterial infection or it can occur from an allergic um kind of reason. So a big reason why we see it seasonally is that there's different plants that bloom at different times of the year. Even if your dog does not have an allergy to a specific plant, sometimes it can just be irritation from the physical pollen hitting them in the eyes. Um, and that can be enough to, to cause a bit of conjunctivitis situation. So, you know, monitoring, if it's a seasonal thing, if it is for your dog, then maybe preempting with some vet visits when you know it's going to come into that season. Um, If you know your dog has just gotten it randomly, it could still be some sort of environmental reaction. Um, things that can help. Let's say you've noticed your dog has discharge. You want to get them into a vet, but your vet has an appointment in three days time. You can get something called calendula tea from a lot of health food shops or from some chemists. And if you make that up as a normal tea and let it come down to room temperature, it can actually resolve quite mild cases of conjunctivitis. If you do like a little eye, wipe with it twice a day.
00:13:32
S1: So not, you know, not drunk out of a tea cup.
00:13:34
S2: No. Like the dog can definitely safely drink the tea, but it's not going to do anything for the conjunctivitis. It's more like you let it come to room temperature and do a little bathing of the eyes with it, like a little eye mask situation. You can also use sterile saline, which you can get from a chemist. There is a difference between saline and salt water, so don't dunk your dog's head in ocean water because the ocean is contaminated. It's not just salt water. There's lots of other gross stuff in the ocean, so it's actually probably going to make it worse. And just arbitrarily combining salt and tap water is also not the same thing as saline. Because saline has a specific percentage of salt in it. So if you are looking to go down the saltwater route, I recommend just going to a chemist getting some sterile saline. It's like a dollar. It's very, very cheap. Or you can try to source the calendula tea.
00:14:26
S1: Do you find that it gets worse in like in wind or like if you've got a dog, you're out walking and they come back and their eyes are irritated by wind? Is that kind of a similar or different thing?
00:14:37
S2: Yeah, it can definitely be quite similar in how it presents. And the symptoms can be very, very similar between that and like a bacterial conjunctivitis. I guess the main difference is that the wind related conjunctivitis typically goes away as soon as the stimulus is gone. It might take a few hours or a day or so. If you have many windy days in a row, it might take a bit longer, whereas if it's some sort of infectious problem, then it's probably going to linger around.
00:15:03
S1: And would you use something like calendula or saline if it is a kind of wind related.
00:15:08
S2: Yeah, you definitely still can. And no matter what, let's say you're using calendula or saline. No one's expecting you to be a vet and to be able to diagnose what it is. But if it's not resolving within 24, 48 hours of using those home remedies, that's the stage where I would be going to a vet just to make sure you don't have a bigger problem on your hands.
00:15:28
S1: And when it comes to, I guess, making sure that you're not spreading something that might be, you know, viral, how would you do that? Or how would you potentially guess? Or is it really just going to the vet?
00:15:40
S2: It's mainly going to the vet, I guess. Avoid going to public places like dog parks, just like with any sort of infectious situation. There are types of conjunctivitis that can pass between species like pink eye is a common one. Lots of different types of animals can get pink eye. Honestly, you're quite unlikely to get it from your pet as long as you're practicing good hand hygiene and you're not like, actively rubbing your face on their face. Or if your dog with conjunctivitis puts its head on your pillow, maybe change your pillowcase before you sleep just to prevent that kind of cross-contamination. It most of the time, it's not going to be the type of conjunctivitis that is able to spread between species. But just in case it is, it's always good to practice that kind of hygiene.
00:16:23
S1: Are there any other kind of final eye health things that would be worth noting or considering here?
00:16:30
S2: I guess if your animal is in significant distress, like they can't open their eye, there's blood coming out of the eye. You know, that there was some sort of trauma like a stick. Poke them or something. Don't wait around. Don't do the tea or saline. Always get addressed immediately because eye issues can get much worse very quickly, especially if they're quite severe. So you don't want to end up in a situation where maybe there's like a surgery or something that has to happen because you've waited too long.
00:16:57
S1: Good tip. Thank you so much.
00:16:58
S2: Yes. One more tip. If you have had antibiotic eye drops prescribed, do not just randomly use them. If your animal gets conjunctivitis later on, there are certain components in some eye drops that can be contraindicated, so not okay for other conditions, such as if your animal has an ulcer, you never want to use a steroid based eye drop because that can cause really, really, really big problems. So if you've been prescribed something, maybe even for a different animal, don't just assume, oh, it's an eye drop. I can use it for any eye condition. There's actually a lot of different types of eye drops on the market that are used for very specific reasons. And that's why we always recommend an vet check.
00:17:45
S3: So when we talk about.
00:17:46
S1: Body condition score in dogs what what is that. What's the body condition score.
00:17:52
S2: So body condition scoring is pretty much our way of telling whether or not dogs are under or overweight. Given that there's so many different breeds of dogs. So it's not like humans where you can kind of go based off of BMI or just the weight, because a Chihuahua obviously weighs significantly different than a Great Dane. So and going by numbers, if you have a crossbreed or anything, it can be quite difficult to know what amount of kilograms your animal should weigh. So body condition score is much easier. And it's what vets use in conjunction with the weight to determine whether or not your animal is healthy weight. So you can always do a little Google search for a body condition scoring chart. Sometimes those are quite helpful because you can see the little pictures and kind of match the picture to your own animal. But a really basic rundown of it is, what I like to do is run my hands along the ribs of an animal. You should feel their ribs with gentle pressure if they're a nice, healthy weight, if the ribs are just sticking out and you barely have to touch the animal to feel their ribs. They're definitely too skinny. If you have to dig your fingers in to feel the ribs, then they're definitely overweight. So I think that that's a really easy way of judging whether or not your animal is an adequate weight at home. Obviously, things like pregnancy and stuff like that can affect it, but in general it works pretty well for animals. You can also do things like looking to see if they have a waist, you know, a nice little tuck of their tummy. Again, there are lots of lots of photos of these. And the body condition scoring is something that there are charts for pretty much every species for. So if you have a cat or a bird or a horse, you can look up the body condition scoring for those animals as well. And they're just a bit different because the animals have different anatomy.
00:19:42
S1: Is weight a metric of fitness even kind of with like littermates or dogs of the same breed, it.
00:19:47
S2: Can really vary between animals and there are medical conditions that can make it really difficult for an animal to either gain sufficient weight or lose sufficient weight. So, you know, if your animal is at a non-ideal body score and you modify the diet and the exercise and you're not seeing results, you're either not seeing a skinny animal get to a more healthy weight or a chubby animal get skinnier, then it's probably worth discussing with your vet, maybe running a blood test to make sure that there isn't any sort of endocrine or hormonal cause that's preventing them from achieving a healthy weight.
00:20:26
S1: So are there even any kind of other factors that would make, say, a dog of like the same height as another different weight?
00:20:34
S2: Some of it can be musculature, some of it could be the actual diet they're being fed. So you might be at a dog park or something, and you're talking about how you both feed two cups of food to your Labrador a day. But every food has a different amount of calories, so you can't actually go by volume. You have to go by the calories in the food that you're feeding. And pretty much all animal foods have a feeding guide on the back where they tell you how much you should feed and you know what kind of volume equals the appropriate amount of calories. So not all, not all foods are the same for sure. And that that can be a really big factor. And it's something that's often lost when people are talking casually about their animals diets.
00:21:18
S1: I suppose with the kind of feeding chart as well, that would be something to kind of keep in mind that actually that will also depend on dog's exercise needs. So you can't exactly just go that that's got to be it. So if they're fat, then that's not correct because that's what the feeding chart says.
00:21:34
S2: Yeah. So some brands will give you like an active versus inactive animal feeding guide. So if you have a really kind of couch potato animal, it'll tell you to feed a bit less. If you have a working dog that's running 30KA day, you're going to have to feed it more because it's expending more energy. And usually there is a guide on that. Or if you speak to your vet, they might discuss an alternative diet that's more appropriate to your animal's activity levels. I guess it is important to note that the main way that we manage weight in animals is through diet rather than through exercise. Exercise is great for their muscles and their bones and all of that, but it's not going to make a massive difference in their body weight. So if you have a chubby dog that you're trying to get to lose weight, walking an extra K a day won't work as effectively as reducing the amount of food you're feeding it.
00:22:31
S1: When, when we're kind of looking at that, judging the body condition by touch, would that kind of negate some of the issues with kind of thinking, oh, my dog's just fluffy or, or long haired or something?
00:22:44
S2: Yeah, it definitely does affect it. A lot of people, especially now that poodle crosses are really common and they're very fluffy. It can be really hard to tell how large a dog actually is when it's furry. So the running your hands along the ribs, I think is the easiest way of getting an objective measurement. Um, certainly easier than putting it on a scale and trying to piece together what the number means. Your animal might be fat and fluffy and that's fine. I think the other big thing is kind of changing our mindset on what a dog should look like. So for example, I have a golden retriever who is a great body condition. She's kind of right on where I want her to be. You know, being a vets dog, you'd hope that'd be the case. But people often come up to me and tell me that she's too skinny because they're so accustomed to seeing obese golden retrievers that they think that the obese ones are actually what they should look like normally, and that anything that's a healthy body weight is actually too skinny. So I think that if we're constantly seeing overweight animals, it's easy to normalize them. But you need to recognize that just because a lot are overweight, it doesn't mean that they're all healthy. It might just mean that there's a lot of unhealthy animals of that breed.
00:23:59
S1: Isn't it something like half half of dogs are overweight. There's some statistic and it's like mind blowing.
00:24:07
S2: I don't know the actual numbers, but colloquially, from my experiences in private practice, I would say that it would be at least half of them. And sometimes it's people genuinely don't know, or they do think that they're supposed to be bigger. It can be quite difficult when people just get a lot of enjoyment out of feeding their animal. Their animal loves it and their animals happy when they give them food, stuff like that. But I guess it's important to remember that you can kill something with kindness. Making them overweight does predispose them to a lot of issues, issues with their heart. They can get arthritis earlier. They can have things like gastrointestinal or pancreatic issues. They can get diabetes. Really, the list is endless. And on average, an overweight dog actually lives two years less than a normal weight dog.
00:25:00
S1: I think it's really interesting. And I found obviously this kind of anecdotal, but when I was growing up, I had a golden retriever who was a little bit overweight. When I say a little bit, I mean quite overweight when she was growing up and when she actually lost that weight, she was actually just a happier dog. Like she became more active at age seven than she had been when she was three and four because she was many kilos lighter and fit.
00:25:25
S4: Yeah, it does make a big difference.
00:25:26
S1: The last thing I was thinking is for people that have breeds that are kind of maybe bigger or more muscly, and they're not entirely sure what that should look like. Say, I've got a friend who's got a, you know, a bull Arab. So quite kind of big and, and chunky and it's just like solid. Can you work with a probably what say work with a vet to work out what that body should look like?
00:25:48
S2: Yeah, definitely. It can be a bit difficult. I find things like bulldogs and bull Arabs really muscly staffies. Those kinds of dogs can be hard to body condition score because they have so much muscle on them that you can't really tell. And that's also an issue that human athletes face because their muscle weighs so much that it actually puts them in a BMI that's considered overweight, even if they're an Olympian or something. And they're clearly a very fit individual. So you can that's definitely a situation where I'd work with your vet, the the body condition scoring to some degree will work because typically the muscles that overlie the ribs don't get super massive. Your dog isn't out there doing any like lat exercises and stuff like that. Usually you can still do the running your hands along the ribs trick with a very muscly dog. But if your dog just has a kind of awkward body shape and you really can't tell, just bring them into the vet and we can always discuss a plan and figure out if it's actually a good way or not for your animal. It's just us giving you that advice because we want what's best for them and what's going to keep them healthiest for longest. It's not a commentary on who you are as a person or your lifestyle or any of that. It's not meant to be offensive. We're just meant to be championing the welfare of your pet.
00:27:13
S5: You've been listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show on Vision Australia Radio. I hope you enjoyed my interviews with ash and our vet tips, giving you some information and insight into some of the common cold weather, medical conditions as well as body condition score. If you'd like to find out more about seeing eye dogs, the work we do, or how you can help, head to our website at Vision australia.org. Thank you for listening to the Seeing Eye Dog Show. Don't forget to tune in same time next week for another episode. Have a lovely week.
