Duration: 44:54:00
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Welcome to Episode 24.
Listen in as we recap last weeks episode where we spoke to Dr. Merryl Riess, who surprised us all when she said she was a native Atlantian, we also learned of Dr. Miller's Alektorophobia or fear of chickens, how Delaware became the first 'No Kill' state, and the importance of having an in-house lab!
We'll also reveal the mystery sound from last week!
In today's episode, we will get to know Jennifer Collins, one of our Veterinary Technicians at our Russell Ridge location. We'll learn a bit more about her educational past and how she still dreams of becoming a writer. SOmething her and one of our other doctors, Dr. Carrie Cummings share. We'll play would you rather and talk a bit about what dogs are thinking and how smart they actually are.
We'll talk about the success of last Saturday's CARE Fund Run for the Noses 5k. The overall winner for the 5k ran it in an incredible 19 minutes and 5 seconds after he had already ran the 5k trail before the actual race. Dr. Miller and his son, Jared both placed first in their age class as well as receiving 5th and 4th place overall, respectively.
We'll dive into the Gree-Blue Algae discussion and learn a bit more about the dangers that are associated with that. We will also stress the importance of vaccinations against Leptospirosis, a bacteria that can infect both humans and pets, and yearly fecal tests to detect Giardia before it becomes a problem. One of the main problems with diagnosing this alga is there are many different types and therefore they all have different symptoms. Symptoms that can range from neurological issues such as trouble walking to GI problems like bloody diarrhea and vomiting. On top of this, there is no treatment for exposure. Instead, we can only provide supportive care in hopes the pet will recover. These Gree-Blue Algae Blooms are also dangerous to people as well.
The Center for Disease Control advises that "If you see an algal bloom, stay out of the water and keep your pets out of the water. You cannot tell if an algal bloom is harmful by looking at it, so it is best to be careful and avoid contact. If you or your pets do go in water that has an algal bloom, wash yourself or your pets off immediately afterwards with tap water. Do not let your pets lick their fur until you wash them off with tap water." You can learn more about prevention, risk, and symptoms on the Center for Disease Control website here: https://www.cdc.gov/habs/index.html
Pictured Above: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) from the Center for Disease Control.
Learn more about Giardia on our blog, What is Giardia?
We will also talk about one of the sadder sides of Veterinary Medicine. This week we lost a patient to heatstroke and while we did everything by the book, the pet still wasn't able to recover. This is a reality for some conditions where when treatment is delayed, even by a few hours, there is no recovery. What really happens to your pet when they have a fever of 107? Dr. Miller will explain, in more detail, what that type of temperature does to the patient's body and why it's extremely hard to treat. Ultimately, the body tissue can't stand that type of heat for extended periods of time. Much like oxygen deprivation, once the damage is done to the brain and other organs, there may not be a way of fixing it.
We'll talk about the death of Val, a 28-year-old Giraffe at the Sacramento Zoo and why giraffes, who are these massive animals live so long and how we wished dogs could as well.
Tomorrow, August 17th is Clear the Shelter Day! Local Gwinnett County Animal Shelter will be waiving their pet adopting fees in hope to clear out the shelter. They will be open Saturday, August 17th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm for free adoptions. As of right now (August 16th, 2019) all pets who have been in the shelter for over 30 days already have a waived adoption fee.
Check out on our Instagram page and look for our new selfie of Dr. Miller, Angel, and Jenn!
Lastly, we'll give you this week's mystery sound! To guess what our mystery sound is, contact us at People, Pets & Vets on Instagram!
Thanks for listening and make sure to follow GVA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.
