A Gecko Has A Swollen Paw
Transcript for:
A Gecko Has A Swollen Paw MR. SAM LITZINGER
12:17:34
Welcome back to "The Animal House." I'm Sam Litzinger with Dr. Gary Weitzman, chief executive officer of the Washington Animal Rescue League. We would like to hear what's happening with your animal friends. Our telephone number is 1-877-610-3647, or animalhouse@wamu.org. Again, that telephone number is 877-610-3647. You can email animalhouse@wamu.org, plus look at our animal of the day at facebook.com/wamuanimalhouse. How are you?
DR. GARY WEITZMAN
12:18:05
I'm good.
LITZINGER
12:18:05
Working busily?
WEITZMAN
12:18:06
Yeah, always.
LITZINGER
12:18:07
I wanted to take a minute here and just say a little tribute to Ella the Beagle. We had to euthanize Ella a few days ago, because she -- as you know, she had all kinds of problems.
WEITZMAN
12:18:14
Yeah. Yeah. So sorry to hear that.
LITZINGER
12:18:16
So we -- we took her to the ER, and I want to talk a minute about this too, aside from the Ella factor here, so if I don't collapse in a heap – in a weeping heap...
WEITZMAN
12:18:23
Right. I'll prop you up, Sam. I promise.
LITZINGER
12:18:25
But we went to the ER, and this -- I did want to mention this briefly, and it was a very busy night at the ER…
WEITZMAN
12:18:30
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:18:31
...and I was talking to the emergency vet who eventually made the -- helped me make the decision about Ella, but I wonder, can you just talk about what an ER vet has to go through on a very busy night? It's got to be very tough, psychologically.
WEITZMAN
12:18:43
Oh, it is. I mean, it's like a human ER. What time, unfortunately did you have to go in?
LITZINGER
12:18:47
Very late.
WEITZMAN
12:18:48
It's always a Friday night...
LITZINGER
12:18:48
Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:18:49
...or a Saturday night or a Sunday night. It's just the toughest thing in the world. You've got to be a great physician. You've got to be a good counselor. You've got to be good with time, and then, of course, there's always an even more difficult thing that we don't have in human hospitals, and that's the final decision if you -- it's not humane to actually keep an animal going, and I know that's what happened with you with Ella.
LITZINGER
12:19:07
Right.
WEITZMAN
12:19:08
So that's the hardest part. But, you know, we really rely on support staff because, you know, thank Heaven for the wonderful technicians and front desk people to just help make that all happen. I'm really sorry you had to do that. I know you've been through a lot with your girl, and she went through a lot. How old was she?
LITZINGER
12:19:23
We don't know exactly.
WEITZMAN
12:19:24
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:19:24
Probably around 12ish or something.
WEITZMAN
12:19:25
Twelve, yeah.
LITZINGER
12:19:26
Because we got her as an adult so, you know, she -- that's another thing I wanted to mention too, is we got her from a rescue organization...
WEITZMAN
12:19:31
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:19:32
...here in the Washington D.C. area...
WEITZMAN
12:19:33
Of course you would.
LITZINGER
12:19:33
...called BREW...
WEITZMAN
12:19:34
Mm-hmm.
LITZINGER
12:19:35
...which is a Beagle rescue group. I told you this story before that I had no intention of getting another dog...
WEITZMAN
12:19:40
Right.
LITZINGER
12:19:40
...because I couldn't stand losing them.
WEITZMAN
12:19:41
We hear that a lot. (laugh)
LITZINGER
12:19:42
But, you know, and there was Ella at the little gathering, you know, where they had a little adoption fair, and I said...
WEITZMAN
12:19:48
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:19:48
...maybe I'll just go over here and look and then, uh-oh...
WEITZMAN
12:19:51
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:19:52
...it gets -- you know what happens after that.
WEITZMAN
12:19:53
I know. They sell themselves, don't they?
LITZINGER
12:19:55
They do. They do. She sort of picked me, and it always works out that way.
WEITZMAN
12:19:57
Yeah. Well, I think from everybody out there, I think everybody's condolences...
LITZINGER
12:20:00
Well, thank you very much.
LITZINGER
12:20:01
...know how much -- dogs are lucky to be your dogs.
LITZINGER
12:20:02
So now we're -- I think so. Now we're moving from dogs to kittens from Afghanistan, which is a whole other story that I'll tell you about at some other point.
WEITZMAN
12:20:09
Mm-hmm.
LITZINGER
12:20:10
But anyway, thanks to the vet who was so kind out in Springfield, Va. here who talked me through all of this, and also the Beagle rescue organization that matched me up with Ella. She's a good dog.
WEITZMAN
12:20:20
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:20:21
Let's take a telephone from Kaitlyn if we can. Kaitlyn, glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
KAITLYN
12:20:26
Well, I actually volunteer for a Beagle rescue.
LITZINGER
12:20:29
Good for you.
WEITZMAN
12:20:31
Do you volunteer for BREW Beagle or a different one?
KAITLYN
12:20:33
Actually, it was a Beagle rescue in Arizona...
WEITZMAN
12:20:36
Okay.
KAITLYN
12:20:36
...but I just recently moved to D.C., and now I volunteer for Beagle Rescue of Southern Maryland.
WEITZMAN
12:20:40
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:20:40
Oh, thank you for doing that because, you know, there are so many organizations all around the country that do that, and I know you guys just work all the time to help these animals. So thanks very much.
WEITZMAN
12:20:49
So you're a hopeless Beagle fan?
KAITLYN
12:20:50
Oh, sure. Sure. Yes, I am.
WEITZMAN
12:20:52
Okay.
KAITLYN
12:20:53
I am. And I have a year and a half old Beagle mix. Her mom was actually my fostee, so I've had her since the day she was born.
WEITZMAN
12:21:02
Oh, okay.
KAITLYN
12:21:03
So I know that the issues that she has are more nature than nurture.
WEITZMAN
12:21:09
Okay.
KAITLYN
12:21:09
She's very fearful. She is scared of new objects, new inanimate objects that she hasn't seen before, or if something about her environment changes. So if there's an unusual car parked out back, or...
WEITZMAN
12:21:24
Oh, okay.
KAITLYN
12:21:25
...even yesterday I took the cover off my cell phone, and then it was no longer my cell phone to her, it was something new, and she was scared of it.
WEITZMAN
12:21:33
A new surprise. Isn't the world a fascinating place for a dog? Well, how old is she and what's her name?
KAITLYN
12:21:39
She's about a year and a half old, and her name is Kima.
WEITZMAN
12:21:42
Kima, okay.
KAITLYN
12:21:42
K-I-M-A, mm-hmm.
WEITZMAN
12:21:43
So you've had her since she was a baby, since she she was newborn.
KAITLYN
12:21:46
Since she was born.
WEITZMAN
12:21:47
How many were in the litter?
KAITLYN
12:21:48
Yeah. There were two, and her...
WEITZMAN
12:21:50
Okay. Oh, really, small litter.
KAITLYN
12:21:51
...sister couldn't -- yeah. And her sister couldn't be more opposite. Her sister was adopted by another family, but her sister wasn't afraid of anything.
WEITZMAN
12:21:59
Okay. Well, I guess that gene all went into her sister, but not your girl.
KAITLYN
12:22:04
Yeah.
WEITZMAN
12:22:04
Okay. So has this gotten worse, or has it been like this since you've had her?
KAITLYN
12:22:08
It's pretty much been like this since I've had her...
WEITZMAN
12:22:10
Yeah.
KAITLYN
12:22:20
...but my main concern now is that she's tending to be more fearful of new people. When she was a little pup she wasn't quite so scared of new people. She'd get more excited.
WEITZMAN
12:22:20
Mm-hmm.
KAITLYN
12:22:21
Now she tends to bark at new people. She doesn't want to go up to people in the store or on on the sidewalk.
WEITZMAN
12:22:26
Oh, okay.
KAITLYN
12:22:27
Part of the problem is that when she gets scared of something, she just barks so much.
WEITZMAN
12:22:31
Right.
KAITLYN
12:22:32
And I don't want her to be scared. I want her to be more confident and brave.
WEITZMAN
12:22:35
Okay. Yeah. You know, I think what you're seeing now is a little bit of confidence, but mixed with a huge ton of anxiety, and that's always a very difficult combination, whether it's a, you know, a Beagle or a person. We get a lot of rescue animals that are really fearful. They'll come from a hoarding case, or we just got 109 from a puppy mill in Arkansas. They've got a lot of trouble going from that kind of an environment into a home.
WEITZMAN
12:23:00
So we actually have a program called Open Paw, and actually the whole reason behind that is to try to transition animals from being fearful of people, or over reactive, or inappropriately behaved, to those can get in our living rooms, and it takes some time, but I gotta tell you, you're at the right time in her age to do it. She's only a year and a half, she's just coming to her quote, unquote "adulthood."
KAITLYN
12:23:23
Right.
WEITZMAN
12:23:23
Sam may argue that Beagles stay juvenile for a lot longer than a year and a half.
LITZINGER
12:23:26
Some aspects of them.
WEITZMAN
12:23:27
Yes. But I think you can really work with this, but you're gonna need a trainer. I mean, I can give you some tips here, but I think you're gonna need a private trainer to help you for a few weeks, and I think this girl possibly with the anxiety could use a little help from your veterinarian, and you know what that means, a little bit of Fluoxetine or Prozac, something just to take the edge off her of her so you can actually manage her.
WEITZMAN
12:23:49
And we never like to do any of those drugs without a good behavior modification program too, so that's where I think a trainer's gonna come in. But let me tell you in essence what we do. Don't worry that it's all nature, you can't do anything about it. What we do is we try to make a positive environment, and that's by showering them with treats or figuring out a way to reward the appropriate behavior or trying to disconnect her from the fear and the anxiety and the barking and all that overreaction that happens.
WEITZMAN
12:24:17
And I'll tell you, a lot of it's done, again, no surprise, with food. But I do think you're gonna need to have a good CPDT, you know, Certified Pet Dog Trainer, positive trainer, come over and work with you one on one, and it's for a few weeks, just to get you some tips and to help you out, but that's what you're gonna need to get this girl -- right now when she's so malleable at a year and a half, to get her to the best point you can.
KAITLYN
12:24:37
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:24:39
Give that a try if you would, Kaitlyn, and give Kima a big hug for me, would you?
KAITLYN
12:24:42
We give her tons of hugs.
LITZINGER
12:24:44
That's the most important thing.
WEITZMAN
12:24:45
Good. That's good too.
LITZINGER
12:24:46
Thank you so much, Kaitlyn. Our telephone number is 1-877-610-3647. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Here is an email from Joseph. "While I was away visiting my nephew and his family, I left my eight and a half year old Australian Shepherd with him while I took a side trip with my niece. The nephew has a six-month-old Border Collie who's growing up with his two kids, ages three and six." You have -- you writing all this down?
WEITZMAN
12:25:08
Mm-hmm. I've got it in my head.
LITZINGER
12:25:09
Okay. "My Spot is" -- that's a good name for a dog...
WEITZMAN
12:25:12
That's the dog? Okay.
LITZINGER
12:25:12
...because nobody uses any -- uses the name Spot anymore.
WEITZMAN
12:25:14
Oh, I love it. You're right.
LITZINGER
12:25:15
"My Spot is a rescue who's been with me three years. I believe his previous owners were elderly. When nephew's wife came home with the kids, I'm told my dog was eating or drinking. The little guy went over the pet/hold him as he does with the Border Collie. My Aussie bit my nephew. Mayhem ensued," says Joseph.
WEITZMAN
12:25:32
Okay.
LITZINGER
12:25:33
"No one actually saw what happened. The kid took five stitches to the head, big black eye. My dog goes everywhere with me, including work. There have been a few nipping issues if people get into the space between me and the dog, but there's no way I would call him vicious. I think it was an unfortunate accident. What should I do, and what do you think, Dr. Gary?"
WEITZMAN
12:25:50
Oh, boy. Okay.
LITZINGER
12:25:51
I know you get worried when nipping occurs.
WEITZMAN
12:25:53
I do. I do. And I don't ever like to hear the word vicious, because no dog is vicious, they're just reacting, and it can be inappropriate, as in this case, but I do think you have to have a reality check here. This dog did bite. This dog is showing some anxiety and some resource guarding of his guardian, his owner. This dog did bite a child, and that's very serious, and I'm not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater here. I think this is definitely workable, but with reality that this is a dog you're gonna have to watch forever, and I hate to say it, but it's true, you know, Australian Shepherds are very, very smart dogs, and along with intelligence can come protectiveness and can come pushy behavior or inappropriate behaviors.
WEITZMAN
12:26:34
I've got a Shepherd. I've got to always be aware that I cannot assume that he's gonna always be good with everybody that comes up to him. So that's the first part. The second part is, absolutely, positively need to do some training with this dog, and know that other people are gonna be in a little bit of jeopardy, whether Australian Shepherd or Border Collie, smart dogs, you're gonna have to train.
WEITZMAN
12:26:54
But there's gonna be an essence here that a dog that bit a child you have to be on parole for life, and just know that this dog is gonna bite another child and, you know, we don't use the word vicious, but you have to watch this dog, but a good trainer, private trainer, positive, no aversive training at all because that's the absolute worst thing to do with a dog like this.
LITZINGER
12:27:13
Whenever we get an email that says mayhem ensued...
WEITZMAN
12:27:15
I know. I know.
LITZINGER
12:27:16
...that kind of gets your attention right off the bat, doesn't it?
WEITZMAN
12:27:17
Yes. Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:27:18
So try that if you would and report back to us on that. 1-877-610-3647 is our phone number. Our email address is animalhouse@wamu.org. Let's take a telephone call from Maddie (sp?). Maddie, glad to have you with us in "The Animal House." Question for Dr. Gary?
MADDIE
12:27:34
I'm calling about my Leopard Gecko.
WEITZMAN
12:27:36
Oh, Leopard Gecko, okay, as opposed to a Gecko Leopard, okay. Which I don't know that I could answer.
LITZINGER
12:27:41
(laugh) He doesn't know anything...
WEITZMAN
12:27:41
Right.
LITZINGER
12:27:42
By the way, have you worked with geckos?
WEITZMAN
12:27:43
Only in terms of the Geico commercials.
LITZINGER
12:27:46
Okay. Mm-hmm.
WEITZMAN
12:27:46
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:27:47
But you studied them in veterinary school because you had to study everything.
WEITZMAN
12:27:48
I probably did, but I don't know if geckos came up so much.
LITZINGER
12:27:50
All right. Anyway, what's the question for Dr. Gary about -- or Dr. Gecko as he might be...
WEITZMAN
12:27:55
Yeah. I don't know -- after -- wait until you hear my answer first. Yeah. Go ahead, Maddie.
MADDIE
12:27:58
All right. I got her about six years ago from a breeder at a reptile expo, and I'm calling because...
WEITZMAN
12:28:03
Oh, okay.
MADDIE
12:28:04
...her front right paw is swollen, and it's been that way for several years, but lately I think it's been getting bigger. You know, I give her calcium and Vitamin D supplements with her meals.
WEITZMAN
12:28:13
Good, okay.
MADDIE
12:28:14
There's no ring of unshed skin or anything like that around her ankle. She does not have any trouble moving that I can see, but recently she has not been eating as much. So I would like to know firstly, what can I do about her paw, and do you think it's causing her pain, and secondly, does her decreased appetite have anything to do with her paw?
WEITZMAN
12:28:30
It could, it really could. Well, let me ask you this question, how old is she, first of all?
MADDIE
12:28:34
Oh, let's see. When I got her she was in her late gecko teens, so I'd estimate about seven years.
WEITZMAN
12:28:42
Okay. Now, Sam's gonna ask me how long do geckos live.
LITZINGER
12:28:44
How long do geckos live, Gary?
WEITZMAN
12:28:45
I think I'm gonna wait for that answer to come in. (laugh)
LITZINGER
12:28:47
Mm-hmm. Okay.
WEITZMAN
12:28:48
But usually we don't see them too often getting beyond eight or nine. It depends on all the husbandry, and Maddie, you're doing a good job because you know how essential the calcium supplements are and minerals and all that, and that's one thing that people forget. So your question, is she in pain? This has been going on for now a year or so?
MADDIE
12:29:05
The decrease is feeding just started about a month ago.
WEITZMAN
12:29:08
But the swelling on her foot?
MADDIE
12:29:10
The swelling on her foot, I noticed it a couple years ago. I think...
WEITZMAN
12:29:12
Really? Okay.
MADDIE
12:29:12
...she's always had it.
WEITZMAN
12:29:14
Could be just a benign bone cyst. It probably isn't an infection, or she would have been sick a long, long time ago, or a bone infection, but it could be a benign tumor of some sort. And I think the obvious thing for me to ask you now is have you been to a vet with her?
MADDIE
12:29:28
We intend to go soon.
WEITZMAN
12:29:30
Okay. I'm gonna urge you to go very soon. Not that this is a calamity, but she's not eating, and we always assume when an animal's not eating or there's a change in behavior that, yes, she's uncomfortable. Probably the safest place to be is to say, yeah, let's get her taken care of and find out what this is, and they can take and x-ray and see, and yes, you can even x-ray geckos. But, you know, you know, you need to go to a specialist, and what I would do is go online and look for, I think it's called Vet Search, and type in exotics in your area, and you can get a list of veterinarians that actually have expertise with exotics.
WEITZMAN
12:30:01
But honestly, the last thing you want to do is go to your regular vet if he or she is not comfortable with reptiles, because you need to go to an expert, and it's not gonna necessarily cost you, you know, a house mortgage, but you need to get an answer on what's going on with your little girl.
MADDIE
12:30:14
Yes.
LITZINGER
12:30:14
So a vet visit in your immediate future, Maddie.
WEITZMAN
12:30:15
Vet visit, yeah, definitely.
LITZINGER
12:30:17
Thank you very much.
MADDIE
12:30:18
Thank you so much.
LITZINGER
12:30:19
Mm-hmm. Bye. Geckos are cool.
WEITZMAN
12:30:21
They are cool.
LITZINGER
12:30:21
I lived in Hawaii, and they used to just be around.
WEITZMAN
12:30:23
But you're just saying that because of the Geico commercial. They got a great accent, don't they?
LITZINGER
12:30:27
(laugh) They do. They all talk like that. But in Hawaii, they would just...
WEITZMAN
12:30:30
Yeah.
LITZINGER
12:30:30
...you'd see them on the wall kind of looking around for something good to eat. You gotta love geckos.
WEITZMAN
12:30:34
Especially a Leopard Gecko.
LITZINGER
12:30:35
Mm-hmm. Dr. Gary Weitzman will be back with advice for your pet dilemmas, more of them. Send your questions to animalhouse@wamu.org, or you can call 1-877-610-3647. The man who has enough cat knowledge to fill an entire universe, Jackson Galaxy, is coming up in "The Animal House."
MS. KAREN MUNSON
12:31:06
This is "The Animal House" Dateline. I'm Karen Munson. Here are a few of the stories that caught our eyes this week. A federal judge recently dismissed a historic case filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals against Sea World Parks and Entertainment in which five Orcas were listed as the plaintiffs. PETA filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in San Diego last October, complaining that the animals, also called Killer Whales, were forcibly taken from their families and natural habitats and held captive at Sea World San Diego and Sea World Orlando in violation of the 13th amendment on slavery.
MS. KAREN MUNSON
12:31:40
PETA went on to request the whales be freed and released to a habitat better suited to their needs. A new survey by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention finds 53 percent of adult dogs, and 55 percent of cats are classified as overweight or obese by their veterinarian. Treats were found to be a major factor in weight gain in pets.
MS. KAREN MUNSON
12:32:01
And police in Littleton, Colorado recently pulled over a motorist who was protesting the way Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney transported his dog on a family vacation three decades ago. The motorist, a fan of the fledgling Dogs Against Romney protest movement, had a dog kennel strapped to the roof of his car, as Romney did during a 12-hour drive in 1983. A spokeswoman for the city of Littleton confirmed the traffic stop happened because of canine concerns. More information is at wamuanimalhouse.org.
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