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Welcome to episode 113 of People, Pets & Vets!
Dr. Brad Miller:
Hello, you're listening to people, pets and vets with Dr. Brad Miller and registered veterinary technician, Angel Martin.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Hello,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Each week we bring you current events and news in the veterinary industry and share our thoughts and perspective on how they impact us in our animal hospital. We also try to give you an insight and behind the scenes clients at our clinic and the people in it this episode 113 is once again, being brought to you by Georgia veterinary associates, a family of animal hospitals, caring for your family pet. So we are broadcasting on father's day from rainy dreary, but yet pleasant, Lawrenceville Georgia. Um, I think a lot of the central part of the country is super, super hot. Um, and so, although it's not the most beautiful weather, it is quite pleasant outside.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah. I mean, I guess we were, um, we're feeling all the effects of the tropical storm that's coming through.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I guess I know we had a flash flood warning this weekend and we've not really seen that much rain. I was able to get out for about an hour this morning and just kind of drizzled a little bit, but, uh, is it supposed to get worse today or not?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I know a few days ago, like I saw Glen Burns, who's the meteorologist here in Atlanta for one of the.
Dr. Brad Miller:
WSB.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Channel two news. He had said that we were expecting to get like the eye of the storm, uh, in our area. And I don't know that it was necessarily that bad. We got a little bit of rainfall. I know there was a little bit of a storm that came through last night and knocked down a tree and my neighborhood near our neighborhood pool. Um, but yeah, to your point, it's not been super awful, I guess, in regards to rain and storms and that kind of thing. Um, but yeah, we were supposed to be getting, I think a little bit worse than what we currently are.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. So not too bad, not too shabby, uh, just not, uh, a great day to go to the pool. So, um,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Of course always on my day off, it decides to run to happen
Dr. Brad Miller:
For sure. Um, GVA news, not a whole lot going on there. We still have our two new docs, Dr. Yee and Dr. Seich who are on board. Uh, we actually brought on, uh, Dr. Lauren Dempsey to help us with some Saturday or excuse me, Sundays moving forward. She is a UGA grad, uh, from this area who has been in the Chicago area for the last seven or eight years practicing. Um, and so, uh, fortunate to have her come on board to help maybe give us a little bit of re relief and help our clients and patients out on Sundays. So we, we definitely will. We'll welcome her in July. Um, lobby's still open. I was speaking with one of our clients, I forget who maybe Ms. Williams the other day. And I'm like, I'm really pleasantly surprised at how well it's gone the first week. We're kind of freaked out because we had a bunch of employees that had never worked here with the lobby open.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, that's still the case.
Dr. Brad Miller:
And I was very concerned about having to do 50% curbside and 50% lobby, or are we going to wear a mask? Are we going to require hand sanitize and sensitization, or we're going to have these different lanes coming in and out. And I think the right decision was made by us that we just said, let's try to go back to a hundred percent normal. And it felt pretty normal.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know. I don't, I don't know how much time you spend at the front desk, but, um, in the late afternoons they get very, very busy, I think almost so much that they, people come in and have a seat cause we have a very big lobby, right? What are there like eight benches out front, people will sit down and they then in turn, don't get back up and, um, I guess go to the, the desk. And so people essentially are sitting there, uh, kind of curbside ish, right? Like being respectful, uh, staying away from other people, but yet they haven't necessarily been taken care of makes sense.
Dr. Brad Miller:
So we might need a greeter at the door to check people in, maybe upon entry.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It's not necessarily a bad idea. It's something that, um, you know, we have brought on a new receptionist and she currently is, is kind of being that for us in the moment, uh, not every day of the week, obviously, but when she's up there, she's, she's observing and trying to learn and train from the other receptionists, but she's essentially front and center. And so what she's been doing is just greeting people and then, you know, starting the check-in process and then having them go sit down and then alerting another receptionist when they're free. And so it's not necessarily a hundred percent right yet, but, um, yeah, it's, it's an interesting concept, right. So I think we do have some people that would rather stay in the car. Uh, we have people that come in with a mask. We have people that come in without masks. Um, I know right now a bunch of our vaccinated doctors are kind of like in a weird place, right. Because they're like, I want to be respectful to the client. So if they're wearing a mask in the room and should I wear one or should I not wear one? And so I know it's been like a topic of discussion. And I think ultimately they have decided like just to not wear one because they are completely vaccinated unless the client asks them to. But there is still that like a little bit of a weird feeling when you're in the exam room and someone else is wearing a mask and you're not.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. I mean, I think the right answer is if you're comfortable not wearing a mask, don't wear it. But if someone asks you to of course, and you're not opposed to that out of respect absolutely do that. I would say 90% of our staff is not wearing a mask now.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah, I would agree.
Dr. Brad Miller:
So, uh, yeah. So anyway, hopefully getting back to normal, we've not heard of any huge outbreaks, you know, Memorial day was a big day for me. I was kind of wondering, are we going to have a big fallout effect because of all these people getting together. But, um, the news that I watch, people just continue to gather and get back to normal life concerts, et cetera.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
You seen any of the social media, media, uh, uh, pictures, I guess in regards to Disney world?
Dr. Brad Miller:
No, I've not heard anything about Disney.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So apparently Disney lifted their mask ban as well or their, their mask mandate. And so I saw some pictures on social media where it's just like swarms of people, like up and down the road, like busier than Disney has probably ever been.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Well, I guess people are waiting. I've been waiting to get back. Um, you know, last year was the busiest year the national parks have ever had, uh, or the statistics there. And so probably Disney and some of these other, uh, big entertainment regions and area, really the whole hospitality industry is going to probably have a gangbuster year if they can staff the venues and the restaurants.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So that's a huge thing, right? So like a lot of the amusement parks and things like I know there's, um, in Sandusky, Ohio there's Cedar point. And they have definitely said that their summer hours are limited due to staffing. Um, they've tried to incentivize new hires and kind of summer work with, uh, bonuses and increased wages and that kind of thing, but still, they're not able to get the workforce volume up in order to be open and fully operational for the entire summer.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Same thing with our industry. Right. We've talked about this before and we'll continue. Um, we're continually hiring, we're growing like crazy. Um, and yet it's just hard to keep up with, with adequate staff. Uh, many of the emergency clinics around us have shut down because they cannot staff them. And I don't know if they'll ever open back up or not, that remains to be seen, but, you know, I think the, uh, the, the clinics that are gonna do well moving forward, whether you're privately owned or, you know, certainly if you're a corporate group, um, we're, we're really, um, we realized that labor was super important, you know, not too long ago, but it it's become kind of the, uh, limiting factor and what you can provide and what your growth potential is. In my opinion.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah. I mean, I had a conversation with our HR business partner through ADP a couple of days ago. And, uh, she kind of phrase it as like a, a labor war in the sense that like, even if like we're willing to hire people that don't have any previous experience in the animal industry, that there are other professions out there that are doing the same thing. And so before we used to be kind of fighting for qualified people, and now we're just fighting for people no matter what,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Which may be a good thing.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It could be.
Dr. Brad Miller:
So historically, if you had veterinary experience, no matter what it was good, bad or indifferent, you would have kind of a leg up during the hiring process, um, in our minds, you know, and, and a lot of times they didn't work out because these, these individuals came with really bad training and bad habits, but they had the experience. And so they were a little bit easier to, to plug and play.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Exactly.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Um, we always talk about hire for attitude, uh, not skills. You can always train the skills, but yet, you know, somebody shows up with skills, you're willing to deal with a little bit of their attitude again, just to kind of plug them in immediately. Uh, but this is going to force us and we've been doing this for 10, 15 years. We figured out, you know, here that our receptionist does not need to have knowledge of all the drug recommendations, preventative recommendations, vaccine recommendations, that's a technician, a doctor's job. Um, and so it's just going to kind of force the issue, uh, to, to get those people who have that attitude. And maybe the, I guess not the knowledge base in veterinary medicine, but maybe the people skills,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Certainly people's skills are one of those things that I think a lot of people refer to them as soft. And you just, they're not necessarily taught you can't teach them to someone else most oftentimes they're innate or they're honed by that individual specifically. Um, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a tough market right now for sure.
Dr. Brad Miller:
All right. So let's jump into some stories, um, Healthy Pet, Happy Life segment, I guess. I don't really have anything there except, well, I do have something, uh,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
We should have lots of some things.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Number one, we have a new shirt that we're wearing on Fridays. Um, that is really cool. The staff really likes the new soft gray shirt.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yep. So the a, it's essentially our logo with the state of Georgia or our, I guess, name with the state of Georgia on the back, uh, in a kind of a 70s bubbly lettering. And then it's a three color, um, print.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. So very cool, very different. Uh, has the Healthy Pet, Happy Life, uh, logoed on one of the sleeves. Um, we are starting to see copperhead bites again.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yep.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Uh, Dr. Williams had one yesterday. And so usually that's an early spring kind of the thing that we see, which we didn't really see that many this spring,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
but whether it's been a little weird.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. I think as it heats up, even though it's been very wet this weekend and mild, uh, we're going to start to see a copperhead, uh, poisonings much more frequently. So, uh, if your pet is exposed to a copper head bite, or even think that a, which typically the first sign you're going to see is, is major swelling of a distal limb or maybe a nose if they're super curious about the copperhead. So get them to the veterinarian ASAP. We, uh, when we know that that's what happened, we like to go ahead and give them some antivenom to start the treatment process along with good supportive care.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Sure. So it can be essentially fatal, right. Can
Dr. Brad Miller:
Be fatal in spite of doing everything in spite of doing everything, kind of depends on the amount of venom, uh, that the pet receives the size of the pet. Uh, there's a lot of factors.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know if it's necessarily myth or truth or whatnot, but I've always heard that like the little baby copperheads are actually the most venomous,
Dr. Brad Miller:
You know, you're probably right. It's whole concentration thing. And then, you know, the lower the area to the ground, like a doxen, and that gets bit on the underside. It's almost opposite of what you think. It's kind of like paint. Like you would think if you take this, you know, big room or what, let's take, you take a room, you put a, a really rich color. It's going to make it bigger. And it's just the opposite. Yeah. So most people, and it's the same way. So I, I had not read about that recently. Um, I'm sure Dr. Reiss will help us out. Um, but yeah, it's kind of opposite of what you would think sometimes the bigger the dog and the more mature the snake, the worse, the scenario versus small dog. Yeah. It's crazy weird. So, um, fortunately we only have copperheads here. We did not have a rattlesnake problem.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
We do have water moccasins though, especially by my house. So I live on like a Riverbed, if you will. Um, we're kind of up the hill, but, uh, as you go down.
Dr. Brad Miller:
You see water moccasins down there.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So I don't, but like down my neighborhood, if you go down my street, the hill kind of flattens out. And so people essentially have the river running right through the backyards. And so they do see water moccasins down there, um,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Cottonmouths. Are we talking to the same thing? Uh,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know about a cottonmouths per se, but like water moccasins. I am not very good with my snake species identification. Um, and
Dr. Brad Miller:
We don't really have to typically worry about here the rattlesnakes, but the cottonmouths can be quite deadly. So, uh, as you looked at, yeah.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So I guess a water moccasin is a cotton mouth essentially. Okay. So yeah, we're talking about the same thing.
Dr. Brad Miller:
They open their mouth and it's white inside. It looks like cotton. That's why they're called cottonmouth.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yep. And so they are found in Georgia, um, but don't naturally necessarily occur here in the Northern Georgia
Dr. Brad Miller:
I think that little creek by y'all's house runs too quickly to have them, but I thought
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know, it's pretty stagnant sometimes. And it's actually a river it's pretty wide and deep. So, um, but like I said, we're probably 90 feet up a hill. And then as the neighborhood deepens or you go down the road, the hill flattens out and then people have this running through their backyards.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Very cool to have water moccasins in your backyard. Um, so all right. A couple of stories we got together right before the show, and I think it had very similar stories. Uh, headline was, uh, yesterday that the Biden's dog died and my thoughts immediately went to, it was Major. But in fact it was, I believe Champ was 13 years old, both German shepherd dogs. Um, so interesting fact in vet school, we learned to abbreviate German shepherds as GSDs German shepherd dog. Yes. So I just think that's kind of, I mean, we don't say border Collie, dog BCD. We don't say laboratory dog, but German shepherd dog. So anyway, champ was evidently old. Uh, well he was old at 13 and he passed away at home according to Dr. Jill Biden's Facebook post, I think. Um, and then major is still undergoing training.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah. My understanding is that he back in March, I guess the, both of them back to the white house. Um, but yeah,
Dr. Brad Miller:
I don't know that he's going to be invited back to the white house anytime soon.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I think he was back there. And, uh, I feel like when I was watching some news clips or whatnot about, uh, champ passing along, uh, Jill Biden and like Kelly Clarkson were out in the front lawn and they were playing with the dogs and that kind of thing. Um, I don't know, but yeah, champ was a to your point 13 years old. And so we're going to, I guess no one has really said exactly why he's passed. As I told you oftentimes with celebrities, this is what I feel like it happens, right? Like, oh my dog passed. And it's, it's like, you never really get a true diagnosis, but their comments are peacefully at home, which.
Dr. Brad Miller:
I'm not sure what that means.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah. Me either a lot of times. And I think people like come into the practice sometimes with critically ill pets and they expect them to just die in their sleep at home. And for the most times like pets just don't pass that way.
Dr. Brad Miller:
It's a very long drawn out kind of a situation.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Exactly, exactly.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Hospice. So, um, so that was an interesting story. The U S open is going on today.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Is that tennis? I don't know,
Dr. Brad Miller:
but it's the golf us open,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
so there's one of both.
Dr. Brad Miller:
There is, Um,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
At least I knew that check for me.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. It's being played in San Diego, California. Um, beautiful course. They got a bunch of hang gliders, uh, off the cliffs there and around the ocean. So you're watching the golf tournament and you see all these crazy hand gliders, like in the background. So it's pretty cool.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Like it's not paid entertainment. This is just like people out there, like on their normal weekends. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Have you ever thought about it? You have a fear of Heights, right?
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. I, um, I don't think I would, no, I have, have you ever done the paragliding off the back of a boat in the,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Parasailing? Yes.
Dr. Brad Miller:
I would not do that. Yeah.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Um, it's funny. It's pretty scary because like, you hear the, I don't even know what it's, what it's called, but like the bell, the belts, you know, you can hear them like grinding on the metal. And of course, like, they're not gonna like fall apart or whatever, or.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Do they strap you in or you're just sitting on a seat,
New Speaker:
They strap you in, but you're attached to the parachute that you're awaring. You know what I mean? So like, um, but it's funny cause there's a Netflix show it's called, who killed Sarah and the girl actually dies, uh, in a Parasailing boat accident, but It was, um, there Was some malicious intent there. So I think the Parasailing gear was altered. But anyways, yeah, I know. Um, I don't know. I would go hang-gliding
Dr. Brad Miller:
I might go hang gliding off like a meadow kind of a thing. Not, not right off the cliff, but you see these more sloped where you start running and you jump and then you kind of go and then maybe it opens up a little bit bigger.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Do you remember a few years ago there was like a guy, uh, I feel like in Switzerland or something and he was hang-gliding with the instructor and the, and he weren't connected together. And so when they went off over whatever, like he was literally hanging on by just his fingers. Do you remember hearing about this?
Dr. Brad Miller:
No.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh gosh. I wonder if people were hang-gliding with their pets, with their dogs.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, that's scary. I hope not.
Dr. Brad Miller:
I mean, they're doing everything else or putting them in boats, they're teaching them how to skateboard. So
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Let's talk about boats, right? Um, I actually saw a Social media post.
Dr. Brad Miller:
where my mind went.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, I see. Okay. You're not a motorboat. So I saw a pretty sad, devastating, um, social media posts from a woman kind of just basically not really looking for attention, but somewhat putting out a PSA if you will. They, she and her husband had, um, a very, I guess he was like five or six years old, like a water dog. I'm going to assume a Portuguese water dog, very curly, dark coated. I didn't, I don't know these people specifically, so I'm just kind of looking at pictures. But anyway, so they said that they often go out on their pontoon boat and the dog is often with them and he hangs out on the boat off leash. Um, and they've been on the boat probably a hundred thousand times. Well, for whatever reason this day, the dog actually jumped off the front of the boat while the boat was going and died. Obviously he got sucked into the propellors and was a hot mess there. Um, but her point was, is that don't take for granted because your dogs can't talk to you. You don't know what they're thinking, what they're seeing, all of these things that even on a boat, you should always have your pet on a leash. And that was her point. And I've never really thought about it because every time I've ever seen people on like lake linear here, or even like Hartwell, their dogs are just kind of like Willy nilly running around. Um, yeah, they could jump off. You could hit a big wave. They could fall backwards, uh, anything like that. So I never really thought about it, but her plea was really sad. Like I said, it was super heartbreaking to hear about them. Um, but yeah, their dog had just for whatever reason, they were going at a normal speed, she said, and he jumped off the front.
Dr. Brad Miller:
so they never say the dog again. That's always a hard thing. No matter how you lose your pet dog or cat, if you never find them, whether they're alive or dead, there's always this, uh, you lack closure with those situations. And so, you know, I'm sure the assumption, same thing with people. I, I was unfortunately, uh, down on the Alabama slash Florida coast several years ago. And the day before we got there, a teenage boy, uh, got evidently caught up in a what's it called a rift, current tide, riff current.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Went out to swim and started struggling. The dad tried to swim out to get him and I never saw the boy again.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh gosh.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Um, so it's, it's pretty sad when those things happen for sure. But yeah. Be careful accidents do happen. Uh, people, pets and vets, unfortunately. Um, did we mention that? We do have, I think maybe 50 episodes ago, we do have one cat named indie that sells along the Eastern seaboard with his family.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know that we ever mentioned Indy, but yeah. Indie comes in once a year for annual stuff. All the family's back here in that one area,
Dr. Brad Miller:
We have to make an appointment, because I mean, they are not on land very much. And so it's a very much a forward book kind of a thing. So, um, back to stories, stories and Biden, president Biden. So Juneteenth became a national holiday. And I think so Congress, the Senate had to pass that. So
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
You said that like, it was nothing, right? So the Juneteenth became a national holiday.
Dr. Brad Miller:
This was like Thursday or Friday. This happened and Juneteenth was Saturday.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So, The reason it was celebrated on Fridays because Juneteenth was a Saturday. Right. But like, for me, and I am making fun of you, but like just say it again, like, oh, Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. Like how crazy is that? That like, literally there is a new federal holiday.
Dr. Brad Miller:
That's where I was going. Like, I didn't even know how this happened, but evidently somebody introduces the bill and it either passes or it does it. And boom, you've got a, you got a new federal holiday. Do you know the last federal holiday holiday prior to June 10th?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well, only because I looked at the article and it was MLK day. Okay.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Day and president Ronald Reagan was a presiding at that time. Um, Stevie wonder played a big role in getting this holiday passed. It took a while for it to happen.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
And when was this?
Dr. Brad Miller:
Uh, 1963,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
63 Or 83, 63?
Dr. Brad Miller:
We got it down.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
83,
Dr. Brad Miller:
83. You have my copy. So, yeah. And so it's not on ML, on Martin Luther King's birthday, his birthday. What does it say? The 15th of January, But it's, it's uh, typically.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
the third, Monday.
Dr. Brad Miller:
The third, Monday is when it's celebrated. So like many, not all but many. So Christmas is always on the 25th, but many of our holidays are celebrated on the fill in the blank Monday of the
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well. To be fair. I think in order for like the federal holiday to somewhat always have like federal buildings closed and that kind of thing to observe the holiday, they have to be on a weekday. Right. Because federal buildings and that kind of thing, aren't open on Saturdays and Sundays anyways. And so I think that's why they kind of made it the third Monday of the month versus like on the 15th. Right. Cause if it was on the 15th, they would rotate days of the week.
Dr. Brad Miller:
So Juneteenth basically is a celebration of the end of slavery.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yes.
Dr. Brad Miller:
I mean, that's the simplest way I can put it. And so almost unanimous unanimously this bill pass, which was very, uh, a very good thing in this day and age kind of unifying, hopefully everyone, including the politicians. So I was super happy to, uh, to see that, but yeah, I just, uh, I just
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Think it's so crazy, crazy in a sense that like, even like, I don't watch the news or whatever, but like social media outlets and stuff, like I saw a couple things here and there, you know, like I think Justin Timberlake was, uh, or usher was actually at the signing and there are pictures of him and Kamala Harris and that kind of thing. But there wasn't like a, like a big to do. There was no like giant celebrate. I don't know. It just kind of came
Dr. Brad Miller:
Out of nowhere and then announced it. And it's like in two days announced,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah, it's kind of weird. I would have thought that there was like a bigger production, I guess, in order to get like a federal holiday passed, but, um, I guess not. Okay. But very cool.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Have you ever heard of the black Russian terrier?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
As far as like a dog?
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah.
New Speaker:
No.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Meet the black Russian terrier update your knowledge. So I'm not going to go very deep into this, but it's a 50 to 60 kilogram, uh, black terrier dog. That really does look good.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Okay. So we are in the United States 50 to 60 KS equals
Dr. Brad Miller:
So times 2.2. So 110 to 125 ish.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well Thank goodness. I've never seen one. That sounds like a massive beast
Dr. Brad Miller:
Not as big as a Mastiff as an English Mastiff. Maybe you've seen many of us have seen giant schnauzer. And my thoughts are they only are black in coat color, is that correct? I've never seen a silver one, a gray one. I've only seen black giant schnauzer. So is that a breed standard?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
This is all I've ever seen. I don't know that that is a breed standard,
Dr. Brad Miller:
So they run 45 to 50 kilos. Um, and then the Bouvier to Flounder.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Never seen one of those.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Which I don't think I've ever seen one of those, but that very, very similar to the, uh, the giant schnauzer or so. Yeah.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Do you know if the Bouvier means, is that dog in some, cause there's a couple of dog breeds with Bouvier. I mean,
Dr. Brad Miller:
It's French, I don't know what Bouvier means, but these three dogs are very similar and the article didn't really give me a whole lot of information other than it said, if you find somebody that, that, that has one of these dogs and, or breeds them really try to get as much knowledge from them as you can, because they are going to be so passionate about this breed, which is true of pretty much every breed, uh, that we, that we see the, the breeders, the, uh, you know, the, the people that, uh, are super involved or are typically super passionate, whether they are breeding a dog or maybe they've got a dive docking, you know, border Collie, they're, they're really into their, their trade.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So Bouvier in French, apparently according to Google, it means herdsman.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Herdsman. And what does the mean?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well, I would imagine like the herdsmen of Flanders, I dunno,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Or something isn't that what's not as a floor Florida, the little French thing.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, let's see. Does Philanders. According to, so it's a herding dog -- they can apparently come in a ton of different colors, black Brindle, fawn, salt and pepper, gray, black, and brown who knew
Dr. Brad Miller:
Who would have known. All right. So let's move on from the, uh, dog breeds to artificial intelligence. So
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
One second. So I'm sorry. So I'm like sitting here reading Wikipedia or whatever about this Bouvier, de Flanders. And how weird is it that like one of the little like bullet points are their bite force?
Dr. Brad Miller:
Wow. I would think,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well, I wouldn't necessarily, but it says the Bouvier to Flounder that has been taught to bite will exert up to a thousand pounds of pressure per square inch. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot that could break your arm. Yeah. That's insane.
Dr. Brad Miller:
We worry about being dogged bit here and even the little chihuahuas, I mean, they scare the bejesus out of you. They usually don't break the skin, but it just is very shocking and upsetting, but some of these bigger breeds of dogs, I got bitten by a Rottweiler when I was pre vet. Uh, and, and the Rottweiler bit through my hand the bottom.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, that sounds terrifying.
Dr. Brad Miller:
No, yeah. It was not a very pleasant experience. So, um, okay. Moving on to artificial intelligence. So we have talked a little bit about the role of AI, you know, kind of coming into our industry and as we get busier and we have less labor force, which we talked about earlier, we are trying to look for efficiencies. And so we now have facial recognition software in some of our lab machines to help us read out, uh, urinanalysis results.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Right? So it uses that I guess, AI, in order to differentiate between different types of cells and bacterias and that kind of thing, there's
Dr. Brad Miller:
different, different things that we're looking for. There's a new fecal, uh, analyzer out there. Uh, that's fairly new. Um, x-ray films are being read out.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yes, there are new companies coming out of the woodwork, literally on a weekly basis. I get a new call, um, for a new AI, uh, radiology interpretation company that wants to talk to us and that kind of thing. And so essentially they're just putting, I think most of them are starting with either chest or abdomen, one of the two, um, and just kind of looking at vital organ, uh, specifically,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Initially that I could be wrong. It could be flip-flopped and then they're kind of moving into the ad. And then, so it's just super interesting. It kind of makes sense, but yet it makes me a little skeptical. You have to have a little bit of human involvement.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Well, my understanding is that radio like radiographs and like human hospitals and CTS are essentially read with AI initially as well.
Dr. Brad Miller:
If there's anything suspicious, it goes,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
and that's why you can get your results so quickly when you're on ER, right. Which it may not feel quick, but four hours is a really short turnaround time, uh, to get a CT readout when you're in that emergency room at the human hospital. You know what I mean?
Dr. Brad Miller:
For sure. For sure. So, I mean, this article is just talking, uh, over in Europe. Um, some employees are using AI for employee discipline and I didn't really get deep into the article. Uh, the proponent on the employee side is, is kind of ixnay, you know, this from happening. So yeah,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
In regards to like punctuality, I know you just said that you didn't read a ton of it, but
Dr. Brad Miller:
I just think it's, I think, you know, probably it is, are you working? Are you actively performing your job? So they're just putting all these parameters in too, you know, video monitoring and, uh, again, if you're normal, then you're not going to be kicked out to be observed by a human, but, uh, it's just super interesting, um, big brother, not the 1984, the book with big brother watching you, um, kind of seems to be happening over in Europe. So not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily a good thing either.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It essentially, I guess for most of this article, it talks about how they're going to start this in the food delivery drivers in Spain. Um,
Dr. Brad Miller:
So pause, so a lot of our manufacturer reps, a very similar thing happens. They had these little beacons going out to show where they are so that the parent company can see, are they sitting in their car in the parking lot of Russell Ridge animal hospital? How long was it there? You know, probably did the door open, did the door close? When did they leave? So, um, it's, it's been around for a little while and just, just super-interesting how to, to kind of keep people accountable.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah, I think, um, I, not that, I guess, is it still considered artificial intelligence? Like the, is I guess something that we're so used to, right. But like the checkout, like the self checkout, the scanners and that kind of thing, that's really not AI, is it?
Dr. Brad Miller:
It's not that, you know, we talked about this a while back. It seems silly when we were having to do it because there wasn't labor they're helping you and were doing their job, but now are during the pandemic, most of us preferred to do self checkout. So, uh, you know, I think maybe the AI part of it is the monitoring. Are you, uh, you know, is that patron
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Scanning everything that they have?
Dr. Brad Miller:
What is the inventory inventory checking up? And if you have, you know, Kroger number 7402, uh, all of a sudden their entire inventory counts are starting to come off, then there's probably theft going on. And so they're going to be shipped to security and, you know, kind of, uh, post some signs and stuff.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I've seen some articles kind of floating about and fluttering about, uh, for like Walmart stores that are going to completely do away with their, uh, human checkout people. And it's going to be all self checkout.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. They, they, they being the supermarkets and big box stores have kind of seen the labor market, uh, I guess essentially. Yeah. They saw it coming a lot quicker than we did to go to these kiosks. Yeah, of course. So last story I have. Thank you, Dr. Reiss, uh, she saw is that dog's name in here just as border coworking, a working border Collie, which I saw that dog in the hospital this past week as well, who, uh, is an employee of the geese police. And so there's a guy, I believe he's out of New Jersey. David's something is his name, uh, Richard Davis=d, no. Well, David's his name? Uh, you can, you can go to the website or you can go to geesepolice.com or Oregon and figure out, you know, a little more information than I'm giving you here. But essentially the, these border collies are used to keep geese off of golf courses. And other than you such as probably a museums and statue of Liberty grounds, things like that, uh, because the geese can be very destructive and can create quite the mess. And so, uh, rather than, um, I guess, I don't know how to say this other than eliminating the geese, uh, the, uh, firearms or other methods. They have border collies out there chasing the geese off and kind of patrolling the grounds and not letting them sit there and eat and defecate.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah.
Dr. Brad Miller:
And so around here, it's a lot of the baseball fields. There is a Canadian goose problem as well. And what they do around here is I set out these little fake, um, coyote, mannequins.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, I did not know that at the baseball fields.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. When they're done with the baseball game and everything's been raked up and you know, they're ready and they covered the infield or the pitcher's mound, uh, at least here and they go out and they put one or two, uh, little mannequins out there to keep the geese off back home, my brother Allen. And in order to keep the Canadian, uh, not the Canadian, uh, the Sandhill cranes similar, but different, these great big birds in order to keep them from destroying the crops and digging up the seed. They have these, uh, almost like a bazooka gun. That's not shooting the cranes, but it goes off periodically not to scare them away from, from landings on the ground,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So is it just like air, or.
Dr. Brad Miller:
I don't know what the load is, but I mean, yeah, it's a big it's, it's a big boom, boom.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Oh, wow. So like they hear it at home. Like it's, I don't know. People, people hear it and they're like, oh, Okay.
Dr. Brad Miller:
He's out in the middle of nowhere around ropes, hill, Texas. I mean, that's it.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Okay. But like, let's say that they, there was a house or someone driving down the road, like it's something normal. People just hear it. They know exactly what it is. That's so weird. Big Ben. Sorry. All right.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Do you have anything else?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
The only other thing I have, and you seemed like you knew more about this than I did when I read it. So I read an article in the USA today that kind of struck me a little bit, and it says that 300,000 Americans may live with a chronic, deadly disease transmitted by the kissing bug. And so when I read it a little bit more, it kind of caught my eye because every summer, right? Like you hear people talk about how they're going to protect their pets from fleas and ticks. And, uh, oftentimes ticks will get on people. And then we hear about people getting Lyme disease and that kind of thing. But I had never heard of any other sort of like bloodsucking vector to transmit disease to people. So I'm super naive in this whole situation, but, um, do you know how to pronounce their actual name? It's trash
Dr. Brad Miller:
Trypanosomes cruisy, is that right?
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It's like to -- bug. Does that sound try a toe mine bugs also known as the kissing bug
Dr. Brad Miller:
Now what the, the disease, the organism is trypanosomes cruisy.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
I don't know. It doesn't say as far as like the organism that it transmits and it causes.
Dr. Brad Miller:
IT causes Chagas disease Chagas in humans.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
So it's essentially a lifelong painful disease that essentially can lead to death. Yep. Um, and I did also read in a separate article, not necessarily the one in USA today, but dogs can also be affected by this. And so, yeah, I think
Dr. Brad Miller:
It's dogs and I don't know if it's middle east, but it's not necessarily in our area of the U S it's from other countries. And so I remember learning about this in parasitology. There's a whole group of these,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It says south and central America typically in Mexico. But I mean, nowadays when we have so many imports imports and that kind of thing, and then like, you know, people traveling to, and from foreign countries all the time, granted not last year, but I think people already are making up for the time that they didn't go out last year, but yeah, you could essentially carry these bugs around. And so what I read in regards to like, kind of keeping them at bay for your pets and probably for yourself, it's just increasing nightlight. So
Dr. Brad Miller:
Not like to keep the kissing bugs. So they, these are a little, I don't know, they look like little stinkbugs, uh, similar what I would call those stink bug or a squash bug, I guess, is the way I would describe them. And I think they like feed. I think they sensed maybe the CO2 or something around the nose or mouth and they feed, which is why they're called kissing bugs. They feed on, I don't know if it's dead skin or if they, I think they break the skin. So maybe they were trying to take a blood meal and I believe the organism is actually passed in the stool. And like, it would contaminate.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
It's so crazy that you remember all of this. So, yeah. So there's a part of the article that says the kissing bug usually feeds around a person's face when the person is sleeping, which is how the insect got its name kissing on the face. Right. Obviously, and then after feeding the bug dedicates near the wound, and then people become infected after they rubbed that fecal material into the wound or near the eye.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Oh,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Terrifying bugs are disgusting.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. I mean,Bedbugs are things out there that we don't really know are out there and you, you don't really think about, but they're out there. I think that disease, um, I don't know if you use the whole five chloro, whatever was supposed to kill, um, Corona, it's going to be some drug like that, but I think it gets in the tissues and sets up a numb in the muscle tissues is what I recall about Chagas. And, and, and I think it can be skeletal muscle, but I know it can be heart muscle. I think you usually heart like a, uh, cardiomyopathy or, uh, mild cardiac myositis is what usually will kill people.
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Yeah. I mean, basically all it says is that a lot of people will have this, but physicians like medical doctors are underdiagnosing it because they don't, they're not necessarily, uh, I guess taught too much about all of these kinds of things. And so this goes back to that whole one health situation that we talked about historically, but I thought it was super interesting. I guess, one more thing to put on the list of being terrified of when you go outside or sleep. Yeah,
Dr. Brad Miller:
Yeah. Think about what's in the ocean,
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Right? Yeah. I don't want to, I saw some real ugly fish that live in the dark sides of the ocean, uh, when I went to Florida this most recent trip back in April and yeah.
Dr. Brad Miller:
That stuff everywhere at worry too much about it, just the be safe and beautiful
Angel Martin, RVT, CVPM:
Way to end with a Debbie downer there. But, um, yeah, no, uh, make sure to check in next week, guys, as we discuss more in the news and in our industry, follow us on Instagram at people, pets and vets, make sure to follow all of our clinics clinics on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and check out our blogs on our website at mygavet.com, Please, wherever you're listening to this podcast, hit subscribe or download and remember without people pets are simply animals.
Dr. Brad Miller:
Bye guys.
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