Chats with the Chatfields

Ep 18: Got an itchy pet??

November 30, 2021 Dr. Jen the vet and Dr. Jason Chatfield Season 1 Episode 18
Chats with the Chatfields
Ep 18: Got an itchy pet??
Show Notes Transcript

Does your dog itch...and itch...and itch?!  Well, you and your pup are not alone!  Itching is one of the most common reasons that pet owners seek veterinary care. 
In this episode, Dr. Jen the vet and Dr. Jason Chatfield are joined in the Chat Room by Dr. Millie Rosales, a board-certified veterinary dermatologist (and a HUGE Walking Dead fan).  Listen as they talk all about common reasons for your pet to itch.

We also get an installment of V's view from vet school in this episode!  You can skip to V - she's at 14:35

Check out more about Dr. Rosales at her practice, Miami Veterinary Dermatology, or on social media!  Follow her on TikTok or Instagram @gotitchypet.

This episode is sponsored by FullBucket veterinary strength supplements.  Use promo code, "Chatfields," to get 20% off your entire first order!

Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it...or might be interested in the topic...or just to make their day brighter! :)

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

pet, itchy, vet, allergy, dog, fleas, clients, chronic ear infections, dermatologist, skin, salas, steroids, pet owners, cat, spanish, allergy test, club, people, itchiness, miami

 00:04

This episode is sponsored by full bucket veterinary strength supplements. Use promo code Chatfield to receive 20% off your first order from full bucket veterinary strength supplements.

 00:18

Welcome to chats with the Chatfields a podcast to expand your idea of what impacts veterinarians, pet owners and basically all animal lovers in the galaxy as humans. We are your hosts, I'm Dr. Jen the vet, and I'm Dr. Jason. And if you have not yet subscribed to our show, why not just go to Chatfieldshow.com And subscribe today. And if you want to reach us and you've got a very positive message is full of love. You can reach me at Jen@ChatfieldShow.com

 00:45

And for all you guys who love to keep it real You can reach me at Jason@Chatfieldshow.com

 00:52

Okay, into the chat room we go. I'm very excited. I've been waiting to have this guest on.

 00:57

I'm very excited. I wasn't waiting, but I'm very excited right now. I'm gonna I'm gonna bust it out. I'm gonna bust. Sorry, I'm taking over your spiel. We're bringing it you can introduce it, but I'm gonna give her the biggest most important thing. Okay, a Walking Dead fan. I love it. All right. That's

 01:13

right. Our guest Dr. Milagros, or Millie Rosales is coming into the chat room. And not only is she an avid Walking Dead fan, and a wonderful person. She is on social media as @gotitchypet. So you may know her as @gotitchypet, because she posts all kinds of incredible stuff for pet owners for veterinarians, all kinds of great educational things on Instagram. And that's because she is a board certified veterinary dermatologist. Yes, with a fantastic

 01:57

@gotitchypet

 01:58

Oh everyone get get your phone out.

 02:02

situation, right. Yeah. everybody's got an itchy pet I love

 02:06

it. And not only that she has her own clinic her own practice. And it's Miami veterinary dermatologists, I think yes. And if you go to her website, you will find out a couple of things. Number one, she hablas Espanol. Right. Yes, but But not on our podcast because we don't laughing at the way you said. me because my verb tense was totally inappropriate and wrong.

 02:34

Sure. Just sounded, No, it just sounded funny.

 02:37

Okay. And you will see that her logo is a scratching dog. I mean, people this woman loves itchy pets. So welcome into the chat room for the first time. We've got a newbie. Dr. RoSales. Yeah, thank

 

02:56

you. Thank you, Jason. Yes. Glad to be here.

 

03:01

No, thank you. We are very excited because we want to talk about one of the things that i i Okay, I I know I see a ton of itchy pets. But I feel like I see just the tip of the iceberg for what you must see for itchy pads.

 

03:15

Your handle got itchy pet? No, I don't think so.

 

03:21

It is definitely not. But what I want to start with, like just, we gotta we gotta let people know who you are. And kind of where you come from, besides the fact that you're an avid Walking Dead fan. So tell us where did you Where did you go to vet school? Where'd you grow up? How did you decide that you like to fix that? You pets?

 

03:41

Yeah, um, so I'm from Miami. I pretty much been here all my life. I did undergrad here in Miami, Florida International University. And then I went to vet school at the University of Florida. So I was there for four years and honestly after I was done with vet school, I really did not want to go back to school again. So I came back here that it was just a lot of schooling so I did actually general practice in Miami for three years and and then in there you know, I just think it's the practice I was in it was just really very busy walkins and and I just honestly crazy, but in three years I was starting to get burnt out. And

 

04:36

again Watkins will do that too.

 

04:38

Yeah, yeah. Especially in Miami right I mean, those of you that haven't been there right there's the seemingly clinic almost every other block right? Yeah, but every there are so many people crammed into little area and Miami loves pets. They all have. So they all go we're just we're just listen, I'm not complaining. That's great. But understand absolutely can get, you know, yeah and whelming aren't you entire show and a lot of a lot of stuff. So

 

05:02

yeah, the clinic I was in was nonprofit too. So, you know, sometimes we will get some really tough cases and because of donations, you know, sometimes, you know, we can cover a lot of this stuff, or maybe this particular client, you know, couldn't in another clinic. Yeah. So somewhere in there, you know, I really did love doing dermatology. You know, if it was a very complicated, maybe, internal medicine case, you know, it was always referring. So, part of this too, was, like my knowledge, only one so far. And so I wanted to really be really good at one thing, and I could say, I didn't like surgery. I didn't like emergency. Not like so I thought, I'd love dermatology anyway, but it just fit well, because I wasn't going to be doing you know, emergency, I wasn't going to be doing surgery. Yeah. And you don't really use a nice in dermatology. So I, I looked into doing a residency and, and at that time, you know, getting a residency is still pretty competitive. But yeah, it isn't like it is now. So I actually somehow I will say this, I was very lucky I went to visit, you know, I knew a lot of people at UF, I still kept in contact with them. And I said, you know, I want to do DERM I'm just going to take like a year where I'm going to go visit all the places I want to apply to. And the first place I went to was us. Far Yeah. And so happened. It was their match week, and they didn't match. And my gosh, and it just they knew me, you know? And they're like, Oh, fine, you know, you know, we still need you to kind of go through the application process. You know, we're picking you off match.

 

06:56

Match, because you're already there. It wasn't

 

07:00

it kind of worked out, you know,

 

07:02

the universe taking care of you, man. That's awesome.

 

07:06

So yeah, it was. So it was a two year program. And then I came back here and decided to do my own thing. And I you know, I took a chance I wanted to try it and see of doing it on my own. Yeah, we can happen. And it's you know, it's worked out. So here I am now like 1516 years later. Yeah,

 

07:31

that's great. What a great story.

 

07:33

That's awesome. Is it is it but it just just goes to show you that just going to vet school isn't the end of it. Right? Like it doesn't. It doesn't make make it all happy. And and I love that you kept looking that you said, this isn't for me necessarily, but pieces of it are. So that's hard to do. Right? It is it is let me take a minute and think about what I want to do. And then you said yeah, now I'm gonna go find the best place for me to

 

08:03

take, take more time time and go find the best place for you at visiting them. That's really, I've heard that before. Just don't happen.

 

08:13

I'm gonna take the year well, I'm gonna still work. But when we got up every month, I'm gonna go visit different locations. Yeah, you know, I need to know which one's the right fit for me. Yeah. And I mean, I don't think they were very happy. But I just needed to do it for myself. Like, make sure I'm in the right spot.

 

08:31

And one place, what better place to learn about

 

08:36

because I know a lot of you know, I know a lot of that who really trying to get a residency and they can't and I know it's so competitive now. And even now you have to do like a DERM internship, maybe. So it's okay. It's harder.

 

08:52

chatterboxes don't let Dr. Rose Salas mislead you. It was competitive then also.

 

09:00

A little humbler. It's always been competitive. It was an

 

09:03

incredibly competitive field. It still is competitive to get that residency in order to train to be board certified. So so that's fantastic. So so she is the person to see an itchy pet. That's a fact. And And if anybody listening is in Florida has ever traveled to Florida is aware of Florida's geography and kind of place on the globe. Everything grows well here. And everything itches. Right. And so what a wonderful place to learn all about the different dermatological issues. So So let's jump into it. We have some like very basic things we want to cover with you. Well, I think they're basic,

 

09:43

basic for me, probably basic for you. Alright, hold on now. Basic, I want to know this stuff. So here's,

 

09:49

here's my favorite thing. So right now I do relief work in general practice. And so I would be the one that you know, would likely refer to Dr. Salas, right. So Oh, I see stuff and then when I can't fix it, and I've already thrown everything at it, then you get it. To start with what have you already dry. So she is the big gun to bring out for those for those pets. But But I guess my my favorite thing is when folks come in and say that their dog or cat is itching. And I say first first question for me is, what are you using for flea prevention? Right in Florida, and my favorite is when they say, oh, no, no, they don't have fleas. Right.

 

10:39

Like it's some kind of referendum on their on their already talking about my dog doesn't have fleas. Give me a break. For terrible owners rights.

 

10:47

Yes. And, and so for me, I'm like, Oh, so you have a miracle house? Because of Florida. I mean, if they're not on flea prevention, they have fleas. Which would you agree with that?

 

11:00

Yes, yes. I mean, every dog cat here should be on flea preventative, even though they're indoors. You know, that's the other one that kind of have to struggle attorney clients understand that even though your pet is completely indoors, at a flea? And? And yeah, and it could be a cause of the itchiness? It's, I mean, I tell them, It's the number one reason why a dog will be itchy. Like, I need to make sure I roll that that out.

 

11:27

Oh, that's excellent. The number one reason that a dog will be itchy is fleas.

 

11:32

Yeah, I will absolutely, like if they're here in Florida, like I need to make sure. Yeah, I mean, if maybe there's some other distributions, like, you know, maybe if it's a dog with really itchy paws, and it's not itchy anywhere else. I mean, I don't really think that's a flea allergy. But regardless, you know, you know, in the medical history, you know, we when they fill out their questionnaire, we always make sure you know, it's good medicine, it's important for your pet to be on flea flea prevention,

 

11:59

because, like, tell me if this is correct, because I say it all the time. So like, my fingers are crossed, that it's totally correct. As I say, Well, for me, it's fleas until it's not. Right. And so until I can be comfortable that you're using prevention religiously, that, you know, for a period of time, it's fleas. But could it be? Could it be fleas, plus something else?

 

12:29

Yes. Yes. Yes, yes. It could be fleas and food are really probably the most common is fleas and atopy or environmental allergies. I mean, that's probably the most common. And many times what I tell owners is, you know, maybe yes, this is environmental allergies, but certain things will set off that allergy. And if your pet happens to be fully allergic, yeah. Right. And it just sets them off. And so we're just kind of aggravates more than itchiness. Yeah. So that's another reason why it's important there on flea prevention.

 

13:03

Wouldn't you hope it's fleas? Maybe because is that one of the easiest ones to sort of deal with?

 

13:07

Right? Yeah. So nice. To them, like, we hope it's fleas.

 

13:12

Because southern stuff is can be difficult.

 

13:15

Yeah, exactly. I tell them environmental allergies. You know, it's not easy. It can be a challenge. For many dogs. There was a lot of ups and downs. And it was hard to control what's going on environmentally pollens versus fleas, I can control that. And you can control that

 

13:34

here. We have great stuff available to flees should not not be the problem anymore. Right? We have really good. So. Okay, so folks, we're going to take a very quick break. And on the other side of that, we're going to talk about what she has mentioned a couple of times atopy Oh, okay, so hang with us. We'll be right back. With all the fuss happening in the pet food industry, why not invest in something to help guard against digestive health derangements in your pet. Full buckets probiotics are formulated by veterinarians to support your pets normal digestive health, your pets gut microbiome is integral to their immune system performance. Why not add full buckets daily dog or daily cat probiotic powder to your pets daily routine? to curate, protect, maintain and strengthen your pets microbiome. Visit full bucket health.com today to check out all of their veterinary strength supplements.

 

14:33

Hey Jen, let's do this.

 

14:37

These view from that school brought to you by the AVMA trust veterinarian inspired coverage protecting you through it all

 

14:45

guys, welcome to these view from vet school. And this is my view. So today I thought we'd take a less serious route and talk about all those extracurricular things you can do in that school. Because you're gonna have so much free time on your hands that you're going to need some extracurricular stuff have to fill in the blanks. I'm totally joking, you have no free time. And you will have to make time for the fun stuff to make all the stuff you have to do seem bearable and tolerable. And to remind you that you're doing all this to do that fun stuff at the end. So the first thing is clubs, there are so many clubs, I can't even explain to how many clubs there are. We had 29 clubs when I came into school, and I don't want to get this wrong. So hold on one second, because I'm old. Let me get this. All right. There's a chicken club. There's a pig club, there's a cow club, there's a bovine club, there's a cat club, there's a Christian club, there's a pride club, there's an exotic club, there's a water exotic Club, which is for like dolphins. There's an ortho club, and then we didn't have enough to choose from. So my classmates decided I'm going to make a radiology club. And there's a nutrition club. So and if clubs aren't your things, that's okay. There's more stuff to do. You can volunteer for ICU rounds. Or if you're really ambitious. You can go into politics. That's right, we can go into politics, you too can be the next Trump or Biden, and run for class president run for vice president or treasurer, whatever. And there's like eight positions in your thing. There's like ethics, people in Code of Conduct people that you elect. So there's all these extracurricular fun, or working things that you can do to fill all that spare time in vet school. Just want to let you guys know, there's more than just school. So this is V. And that's my view on vet school. Till next time,

 

16:32

these view from vet school, brought to you by the AVMA trust, veterinarian inspired coverage protecting you through it all.

 

16:42

Back here in the chat room. We're here with veterinary dermatologist extraordinaire, Dr. Emily Rose Salas. And we talked about fleas, which are the bane of some of our existence. And basically friends, if your pets are not on sleep prevention, get them on some good sleep prevention, talk to your veterinarian, get it through your vet. It works and then you just don't have to worry about that.

 

17:08

I have a question. It says I have very few questions right we all stop the whole world stops like it's asking Hey, stop depresses Jason had it. Alright, so this is very apropos to what we're talking about and right on track. Okay. So all right. When you're watching The Walking Dead, right, and you see all of these crazy skin things falling off. Are you like in heaven? Or is it like gross you out? All right. I'm putting you on the spot. You like it? Or do you hate it?

 

17:39

No, I like it. I think it's gross. Cool.

 

17:42

It's gross. Cool. As a dermatologist, I wasn't sure if you're like, Oh, poor guy must have had this. And I'm like, Oh, look at that skin hanging off his cheek. I could see his teeth grow anyways. Okay. Okay. I've been holding on that question for the last 20 minutes.

 

17:57

All right, good. Good. Good show. All right. Apologies to extra sales.

 

18:03

Are you kidding me, though? I'm just saying it's showing a good question.

 

18:07

Okay. All right. But so we so I want to talk about atopy. But then also a little bit later, I want to talk about people people sometimes are afraid of Mercer. And with their pet and kind of how that works. So let's talk about atopy. So if you have a dog, and actually, cats can be a topic too, right? Yes. Okay. So we neglect cats all the time. So does everybody right? 20. Only 20% of cats get brought to the vet on an annual

 

18:41

wait cats like it though, so I kind of think they bring it upon themselves sometimes.

 

18:45

I don't know. There's some cats to the vet. Like I met a lovely cat yesterday named Gentry. Shout out to Gentry. She was lovely. And she was she must have been a dog cat because she didn't care. She was at the vet. She was laying out

 

19:00

on the on the room there, huh?

 

19:03

He did you know very commanding presence. So anyway, so cats can be a topic. So what does that mean? Like what is atopy? Like, what does that even? What does that mean?

 

19:16

So ATAPI is allergies to environmental ills. So by that, I mean, who pollen from trees. It could be allergic to the grass, weeds, dust mites, molds. So all this is in the air, it's not something they can see. And what we know now is, you know, contacts or skin it gets absorbed through their skin and then it starts this whole, you know, allergy process and it can manifest in many different ways. You know, being itchy licking, probably a big one that, you know, a lot of owners don't realize is ear infections. chronic ear infections can be due to allergies.

 

19:58

Yes, yes. Wait, stop, because that's gonna like shake people's foundation right there. Because, yeah. So if I've, if, if the dog comes in with chronic ear infections, just like, is it just ear infections? Are they itchy everywhere else and chronic ear infections? Or when, like, when are we worried about? This could be something bigger than just wet years?

 

20:26

Right? So they can present with just ear infections and not affecting anywhere else on your body or to have to be itchy. Or they can have both they I mean, I see a lot of that where they're itchy skin lesions problems there. And then they also have ear infections, chronic ear infections. Wow.

 

20:45

That's too hard. Right? Like, how was that fair?

 

20:50

No, I feel so bad for those dogs that have every day

 

20:53

talking about me, right? It's too hard on me. I feel bad for dogs really come on.

 

21:01

So that's super interesting, because I had not considered I mean, I tell I tell a lot of pet owners who like the dog gets the dog is itchy in other places. And, you know, they come in with kind of like that dry grease on their skins because and maybe some little round lesions that are flaky so and then they also have an eye look in the ears. They also have an ear infection that's cooking, right? And so I tell the owners Well, that's because it's the same skin that is in the ear canal. It's just wadded up into a little ball and stuck in there. So it gets wet and it gets infected. But I had never considered at the risk of appearing ignorant on the podcast in the chat room. I had not considered that dogs that come in with just chronic ear infections and no other skin issue. They could be a topic. Wow.

 

21:54

Yeah. I mean, the other differential is food allergy. So they can have a food allergy that can be caused either chronic ear infections. So that's another one too, to rule out. Yeah. But so that's yeah,

 

22:10

like a whole podcast, like but like Jason, like, what do you do remember? What do you remember about food allergy presentations? Do you remember anything about food allergy presents?

 

22:19

I thought food allergy presentations were like feet and face or something like that.

 

22:24

And the flaming anus. Right. So

 

22:27

I blocked that out. That just sounded weird. Feet and faces what I got.

 

22:34

That is that definitely is that's too but it can just be ears.

 

22:38

Interesting. Okay. Wow, dropping some serious knowledge here. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so, so those

 

22:47

fancy term for environmental allergy. That's pretty much that's

 

22:51

it? I think that it's kind of easy for clients to understand.

 

22:55

Yeah, yeah. But they shouldn't give up hope.

 

23:00

No, no, no, no, I think but again, the big thing is looking for that, especially with ears. I'm pretty passionate about that subject is looking for that underlying cause in certain breeds, like friend cheese, bull dogs, just they normally have nirodh ear canals. And, you know, after just repeated insults in that ear, you know, just it can be really hard to get rid of their ear infections because yeah, the damage they get on their ear canals.

 

23:31

Did you hear the breed that was number one on her mind? Jason.

 

23:37

I chew wanted to say one A and one B are French and French Bulldogs. That's what she did. She want to make you feel bad?

 

23:45

That's right. Well, I mean, I appreciate that. But no, yeah, French cheese. French cheese can be everyone knows the farm fresh Frenchie because that they can be a handful. So yeah, so I think that's interesting. So what do you what do you find? Because you see, I mean, obviously, you see a lot more itchy pets than I do. And so do you find that that owners are frustrated? Are they upset? Or, like how do you find owners when they come to you? Finally,

 

24:17

they're frustrated. They're just frustrated. They're they, you know, they just don't want to see their pets uncomfortable. You know, whether it's, you know, just constantly itchy. Maybe it's waking them up at night because they're sleeping with their pet. Or, you know, maybe the pet is just very smelly, crusty, you know. So it's messy. And I think you know, one part that maybe maybe even I'm not sure if that's realized, but it just breaks the human animal bond. It's like the cats are touched and loved as much because they're just lucky right? Where they're outside now because it's messing up the house inside with all their skin. weejuns flaking off on the floor. So So I think that's the big one. They're just really frustrated. They just want a solution quickly, which sometimes I can't do that quickly. It's a process. Yep. So that's something else to, you know, make sure clients understand that, especially with allergies, it's a process. Yeah. Gee, a pet has

 

25:25

kind of feel some clients, you know, they watch too much TV, right? And it's not their fault. That's just what we thought, what's what we throw at them. And they come and say, Hey, Doc, just my dog's itchy here, just run a test, like, what's the what do you mean? What do you mean, I gotta wait six weeks and see how it turns out. I always ask him, What I will run whatever tests you want, just named that test. And they kind of laugh about it and kind of but but you see yourself going over and over and over and over that. And I like to think that any of the clients I send to you are going to have that information. But sometimes they don't always hear it. Right. So it's gotta be tough. It's gotta be tough on you, the dog everybody involved that they can be really tough. Right? So just why we said earlier, fleas would be great.

 

26:06

Yes, fleas are easy, we can fix that. Right? So what is the process when they come to you? And you're suspecting that they have some sort of allergy situation that's causing their skin to flare up? What's the process?

 

26:26

So process of figuring out allergies? Yeah, yeah. Especially if it's like, non seasonal allergies. So it's like, zero tide usually happens in Miami, because we'll have seasons here. Yeah. A big one. And kind of like what we mentioned earlier was, you know, making sure it's not fleas, especially if this is a dog with generalized problems, like everywhere all over its body is itchy. So it's got a lot of rear ended chinos, which is very plastic for fleas, we want to make sure they're on good flea control. And, and then the next step is making sure they don't have a food allergy. So we have to go through a diet trial. Yeah. Which takes a while. It's not something that's going to be solved in a few days during trials can be two to three months.

 

27:17

Is that before you see any response? Or do you see some response after a month but not resolution? Or because I get that question a lot from clients when I say, let's change the food. So how long do they have to feed the new food before they see any response?

 

27:35

So I would say by six weeks, I mean, we're progressively they're going to see our pets get better. But I would say by you getting to six to eight weeks and I think there was was a study, that's when they looked at a bunch of dogs that were put allergic usually by that six to eight week mark, they're really making a turn. They're like 80%, or more better. Oh, wow. That's kind of my point to with clients. Like I don't want them to feel I got three months. I mean, it's gonna really be three months. Yeah, we're checking in on them. They're coming in for a recheck. And really by that six to eight week mark, as long as they've been very strict on the food. They really should be seeing significant amendments. Yeah.

 

28:13

Okay, so So that's the so we eliminate fleas, you do potentially a food allergy trial, a free trial? And then when do you get to all the pricks?

 

28:24

So let's say they fail the diet trial, they show no improvement, then that's why we talk about what are your options for environmental allergies. And that's when we recommend allergy skin testing. So that's like the skin prick test. The point of the test is to see what exactly it is a pet's allergic to so that we could formulate immunotherapy or you know, an allergy vaccine. And I always try to make the analogy to like human medicine. Kind of cool clients understand that that and even themselves are like, oh, yeah, I remember going to my allergist and getting in practice and when I was on vaccines, yeah, so the same, same thing we can do for a pet. And it is really the best long term solution or therapy that we have for environmental allergies, because it's really giving the pet's body a chance to sort of learn kind of how to tolerate or desensitize itself to its allergies. But it's not for everybody. I mean, some clients, either it's too expensive, or they just don't want to dedicate the time to vaccines, which is fine. You know, but then the alternatives are allergy drugs now, like, you know, I'm sure everybody's heard of Apple quells. Yeah, so those are allergy drugs that are pet could be on long term. Yeah. To manage the environmental allergy.

 

29:50

Yeah. And so beyond that, there's a there's another option. And I guess, what do you feel about the Uh, kind of the blood testing for allergens versus the skin test? I mean, obviously you do the skin test, right? You'd like that one. But you know, there's there's that option to just draw some blood and send it out. Right.

 

30:14

And I think it has value where it has value is once you've done this whole process where, yes, you've ruled out flee as a cause of allergies without food. And really the only thing left to again, it's a process of elimination, but the only thing left is that environmental allergy, and then Okay, now we're going to do a blood allergy test. And the purpose of it again, is still for immunotherapy. Where there's the error is that the pet comes in for the first visit and gets a blood allergy tests done, and still hasn't had flea allergy ruled out or, okay, where that blood test is used for diagnosis. And that's incorrect. The test is really for therapy. Okay. And so I think the blood allergy test has definitely some value. So it's, it's how it's used correctly.

 

31:06

Okay, but that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, yeah. That yeah, it's a it is a tool, but it is not how you use the right way. Yeah, not for diagnosis. It's, it's a tool to develop the therapy once you've made the diagnosis.

 

31:21

I have a quick question about food allergy. I know there's nothing quick about food allergy. But I'm sure I'm sure because a lot of clients would come friends to actually not necessary call its friends. Hey, I know my dog's got a nail growl like this. I'm just have weird friends. Yes, I know, my dog's food allergy. What do I do? Right? And so I had to go to and I'm not you, I don't even know what I'm talking about. And I'm trying to recall stuff I learned in school several years ago, but I still gotta I gotta sound smart. These guys. Anyway. So you just said after one food trial, you go, you know, you possibly go to the allergy testing? Is that true? Do you find that honored to have good compliance? Or do you earn you check? Okay, I'm gonna feed this food, it's got this novel protein, that's all they're gonna get. And if it doesn't get better with this, then I immediately go to this allergy testing, or do you sometimes have to go to another? Another novel protein like that? Yeah, I thought maybe you have to go one to two. But if but, but I don't know,

 

32:17

usually, but by the time they get to me, I mean, they're frustrated. And I probably on average, I will just do one. But that makes me suspicious. Like, dog with perineal, itchiness like and I know what's not fleas. Like how maybe this novel protein didn't work? Maybe I need to do hydrolyzed you know, so if I'm going to do a second diet trial, it's got to be different. So I wouldn't if I did novel, then I'm going to do hydrolyzed or I may have the owner do who cooked Yeah, you know, just something different for

 

32:51

I guess in the clients would come in to you you can pretty much you just kind of hope for their I mean, I think compliance is a big big issue at maybe it's the first step because Oh, no, only gave him one or two pieces of his favorite treat acts I can affect anything. And when really does kind of blow the whole test up or killed could blow the whole test. Yeah. So they're probably not gonna do that with you.

 

33:11

Yeah. And I think by the time they get to us, they, they're ready to follow the rules committed. There. I do. See and because we review medical records, and I do see you know, referee that advice, food, food trials and need have started and they do when we ask them further questions. Well, yeah, it wasn't really that strict until I did this. I'm like, Well, that could have been making your dog still allergic we need to stop right?

 

33:38

It's hard to their defense is hard for them to sort of grasp Right? And, and it's just because the hard concept and one little one little treatment one time can kind of blow it up. So

 

33:48

right we make the peanut analogy like peanut allergies to people. Not to layer up, relaxes, like they just need the sliver of a peanut and we

 

34:02

walk by a peanut right in front of it, but it's really scary, right? So good analogy.

 

34:10

It is a good analogy.

 

34:12

We check up on them a lot. So like I'll have my staff called two to three weeks after the diatribe. Hey, how's it going? Is everything going? Well checking. So you were doing a lot of you know, callbacks, checking in, you know, you know, just kind of reminding them like right now my big thing is he Thanksgivings coming like hey, you know, think of what you're gonna do if you have a family at home, put your dog in another room like everything is going well, you know, let's not cause a big break now that yes,

 

34:45

yeah. So do you see like a big rush of flares in your allergy dogs when? After the holidays?

 

34:54

With food trials? Yes. Oh, yeah. The time Yes, yes. Money.

 

35:02

Oh my god, that's so funny. Yeah, for those of you who are not watching the video, Dr. Salas His face changed. Oh, yeah, lately. Person.

 

35:12

Got to watch the video to get the gist of that.

 

35:15

No, I love that. That's fantastic. So when I mean, I still hear like the Cornerstone is, is getting rid of those echo parasites, right, the fleas. Because if your dog has fleas, they're gonna itch. You can't you can't even start to think of anything else until you get rid of that. So is it? Is it wrong for us? Because a lot of times clients when they come to me, I can only imagine it must be really significant when they when they come to you because they must be you know, they're more frustrated by the time I have failed. And had you know, and I've referred them to you, because most clients don't go right away. Like I'll say, Oh, this looks hinky head to the dermatologist. Right. But they don't always. So do you do anything to kind of put the fire out that day? You know, because the dogs uncomfortable or are you

 

36:10

tiptoeing around stomped in there, Dr. Jim, I don't know how much you tiptoe around that, that that injection that might happen. That s word. dermatologist just doesn't want to talk about the four letter word called Dex. I don't know. I'm sorry. I didn't say that. Sorry. Um, so So

 

36:26

because because clients like, you know, God bless the internet. And so pet owners are they're rightfully worried. And they want to avoid long term steroid use in their pets, which I love. Because that's bad. But in my, in my practice, not all steroids are bad. Because they have their place. And I mean, if the dog is chewing his skin off, because he's so miserable, then, you know, I give a short acting steroid, so that like we fire out. So I guess I'm asking like, is that

 

36:58

so funny to listen to you? I'm sorry. It's so funny to listen to you kind of defend your actions because you're talking to someone who you think you're, I don't know, have an argument here. But listen, on steroids. The devil is what you say the devil. Answer it right now. So the debates don't listen to Jennifer's bias. Are they the devil or are they happy place?

 

37:21

No, they have their place. Okay, how do you have their place? I think if it's used properly and dosed properly, they have their place. I I don't really use it that often. You know, when they come in? Yes, they're extremely itchy. And I could tell you the majority of the time is because they're infected. They have a bacterial infection. And I see a lot of yeast or Malassezia.

 

37:50

Oh, yeah. And that's because we do the skin cytology, right. So, pet owners, when your vet says they want to do your cytology, or skin cytology? Say yes, yes, fine. So we can know what we're doing. Yes,

 

38:06

yes, yes. So, yeah, lots on tick tock, tick tock, and he did a video about that. He did. Oh, yeah, I did a little video about that. Like, if your vet needs to do diagnostics to tell you what's wrong, you cannot say no, it's just really very hard to kind of guide, you know, treatment. But Hmm. So I will say the majority of the time, once we get them on their antibiotic or antifungal medicine, that itchiness subsides very quickly, like in a week to maybe two weeks. So depending on the case, I might tell an order, hey, take these anti microbials. First, I'm going to call you in a week. And if your pet is still miserably itchy, okay, I'll add on maybe a steroid for a few days, or I will do applic. Well, I'll do well. So one thing I guess that um, first of all, we do have clients who absolutely don't want steroids, they write a post

 

39:10

it Yeah, and I run into those too. And I'm like, well, you're like you're telling me that two things that are mutually exclusive from in my world which is, you want your pet to stop itching right now today. Today like by tonight you want to sleep good because your pets not shaking the bed itching, right? But you don't want any steroids. I'm like, I I don't have another drug besides just a short acting pop of a low dose conjunction with other appropriate human that fire out. Right.

 

39:45

And that's the thing. That's the thing because right what's gonna happen is if there is an infection and you don't provide an antimicrobial or they don't want to take it, then yeah, they're going to be relieved for a day or two.

 

39:59

Yeah, And they're still smelly. And they're still greasy and

 

40:04

yeah. Not the devil. Just be careful.

 

40:07

Yeah, just just be careful. The other thing too, that steroids could do is that, you know, they're wonderful. And they'll take inflammation away quickly, the redness away quickly. They'll stop itching, and then the owner stays off. It's gone. Yeah, just stopped all meds. Yeah, that's where the other problem is, to where they'll stop an antibiotic prematurely. They won't be there anymore. Maybe their dog is fine for a few weeks, and then boom, it comes

 

40:37

back loads up again. Yeah. And so that's why I also they have to, like, take the pledge, the doctor Jen, the vet pledge, I promise, I will give all medication as directed and finish it. And then if they don't, then when they call back, I say, look at you didn't do what you promised you would do. And now we're here again.

 

41:00

I promise you, she just say that. I do. Look at look at to her clients, just like look it on this one. She's trying to tell them to do it.

 

41:09

But I also tell them when they're doing awesome. And their gold star like only like gold star for you. Yeah, you know, you're a great owner. You came early this time. You know? So yeah, so So yeah, I

 

41:21

bet. I bet. I bet the cases that you saw, we all like to be hero, right? It's beyond we all love it. When it went when the dog feels better. You patch up the leg. But I bet those chronic skin cases didn't resolve I bet they just shower you with love and affection, superhero, but that feeling isn't that wonderful

 

41:38

doctor ourselves. Do you feel that way? Yes.

 

41:42

You saw some of the hardest stuff, longest lasting, visible, right manifests in the most most extreme way, and you get to solve it. So I look

 

41:53

forward to some of those really bad gazes to come back. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, so it's coming back. I can't wait to see. And then my tech comes in. She's like, look

 

42:02

so great. Like jumping?

 

42:06

Yes. Oh, and then when they first walk in, do you think to yourself, a llama will fix this? You know, like dog has like no hair. The cat has like blood on their face and scratching their arms and stuff. And you're like, Oh, y'all just wait. Let me go put my cape on. Because I'm more fixed.

 

42:28

I'm pretty sure she walks around Cape. It's more like let me take my cape off and dirty.

 

42:34

Little Love that. I love that. Okay, so we're coming to the end of our of our time with the incredible Dr. Emily Rose Dallas at got itchy pet. And so here's where we like give our guests an opportunity to say like, what is the one thing or the maybe the top two things you wish every single pet owner? And then actually for you, you also get the other category of general practitioner? What do you wish that every pet owner knew the one thing? And then what do you wish that every like referring vet knew or would do? And I'm putting putting her on the spot folks, I didn't I didn't prepare for this first thing that pops in your head, you're like, Oh my gosh.

 

43:23

So the one

 

43:25

say don't give steroids?

 

43:30

No, the one thing I wish pet owners knew. I don't I guess just you know, I do get a lot of referrals. So that means they did see their general vet first. So we're following through on their general vets recommendations, you know, with using medication appropriately, or do what we talked about with fleet control. And then that goes to general beds, you know, like it's easier for me if they've already done go fleet control, probably already done a good diet trial. Okay, then all I got to do is if I just see a bunch of out of the dogs that I got to allergy does, it's easier.

 

44:13

That's wonderful. Okay, so I'm taking notes Dr. Salas, I'm like Okay, I gotta get the diet. I gotta I don't do the diet trial very often. I got to add that in. I got to add them.

 

44:21

It's a non seasonal herding dog or cat and it's really important to rule that that part out and and then that goes back to clients like, yeah, you know, follow through on your VAT when they say the fleet control when they see the diet trial. I mean, it is expensive to see a specialist. So you know, so some of that stuff can be done already with your general bed and then if they refer you for an allergy test, and you know that it ends up not being as expensive as having spent like, I don't know, yeah, four to six months with me trying to, you know, fix some issues, you know,

 

44:57

yeah, that's Awesome. Okay, how fantastic. That's excellent advice for both pet owners and for, like referring veterinarians who are listening in Yeah, sure. Yeah. I think that's wonderful. All right. Like, I do feel a little bit like we shouldn't waste like, she speaks the Spanish, right? Like, I mean, she could she say something like, I just feel like you should say something to our bilingual listeners, you know, our bilingual chatterboxes?

 

45:29

And what and what would that one sentence in Spanish,

 

45:33

or phrase or like a paragraph, or, you know, watch

 

45:37

The Walking Dead? It'll change your life? No, it won't. I mean, come on. It's great.

 

45:44

Well, well, I will tell you that. So my god, this is a little bit of a tangent here. But my first practice that I owned was an emergency practice. And it was on the border. And so in Texas, yep. Yeah. And so that Alabama, at the, at the time, I could talk to you in Spanish, all about Parvo, all about treatment, all about, you know, vomiting and diarrhea. I could talk about all of it, and all my things were bilingual. But I found that clients that came in that maybe spoke some English, but they were much more comfortable in Spanish. As soon as I spoke to them, like a toddler in Spain, I sounded like a toddler. They did not. Ben, it was so much easier. You know, of course, I got over being embarrassed about my level of Spanish being that of a four year old. And it was much better at it at the time, too. And so I hope that your clients when they come to you, and you can speak Spanish with them and talk maybe with them about their pet, and what's something that's more comfortable for them. I hope they realized that if their veterinarian doesn't speak Spanish, that it's not it doesn't have anything to do with not wanting to see them or their pet.

 

47:07

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you know Miami, I feel like everybody here does speak some Spanish. Now, bad words.

 

47:21

Well, listen, now that I left everybody probably does speak Spanish. No. And I was a good day everybody.

 

47:28

Texts, you know, so there's tags so yeah, but but just explaining the complexity of atopy in Spanish, you know, it it I think it does help for some Yeah, yeah.

 

47:41

Without a doubt, I'm sure it does. So So I love that and I feel like you should get up to Central Florida more often. So get like get get yourself a location of a

 

47:52

fifth practice or six practicing come on up here.

 

47:56

Myself, ya know, just

 

47:58

work just work eight days a week. I don't really understand what's so hard.

 

48:01

The problem is here, right. Anyway, we're just joking along here. Dr. Oz Salas, we love you. we so much appreciate you coming into the chat room and talking with the chatterbox is all about itchy pets. And yeah, you guys should check her out on Instagram and on tick tock apparently, at got itchy pet and then what's your website for your practice? Because there's a lot of good information on your website to

 

48:27

Miami that derm.com

 

48:30

Okay, we're gonna put a link in the show notes. So don't drive off the road. If you're driving and listening. We're going to link in the show notes to that. We'll put her Instagram handle on there. So you guys should check her out and show her some love give

 

48:40

her hang on. Hang on. I'm very, you know, shocker out of touch makes Instagram the same handle as Tik Tok. Typically, or it's a whole different platform. So is your Tik Tok handle

 

48:51

the same? Yes, the same thing?

 

48:55

Maybe I'm not so out

 

48:56

of touch. All right. No, it's handy if you can have the same handle across platforms. Like Dr. Jenn the vet. I'm at Dr. Jen the vet she's at Gotcha. got itchy pet and you are crickets. Dr. Jason. Your Jungle Island doc.

 

49:16

Oh, yeah, but that not that anymore. So I don't I don't I don't know. You're gonna

 

49:19

change your handle. Okay. All right. So anyhow, I'm still at Dr. Jenn the vet. She's still at got itchy pet.

 

49:26

And I'm still Dr. Jason sands, any kind of social media handle.

 

49:31

Excellent. And we'll catch you guys on the next episode of chats with the Chatfield.

 

49:35

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