134. Wild Tails: Veterinary Adventures, Costa Rica & Caring for Pets in an Emergency

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonafati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV. Hello and welcome to another episode of Pets Ad Life. I am one of your co-hosts, Chris Bonifati, and joining me as always is a master of Japanese ceremonial tea pouring, Kristen Levine. Kristen, how's the tea this pouring?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I don't know how you come up with this stuff. Is that a real thing, tea pouring? Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Japanese

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Tea pouring?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
I don't know if you've ever seen those videos or anything about it on the internet. It's a whole thing. There's a proper way to do it. Tea is incredibly

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Important

Speaker 1 (00:48):
In Japanese culture.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
You're so convincing. I know.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm really good at

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Lying.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Which

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Is

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Probably not a good thing to admit on a podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, don't put that on your LinkedIn profile.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
No, it's actually on my LinkedIn profile. You know how you could do skills and people can

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Endorse

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Them? One of mine

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Is

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Telling fibs.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, today we have a really special show, Chris. Instead of our normal two guests, we're going to have four. We're doubling down on the guests and they're all going to be on at the same time. I don't even know how we're going to do this.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
We're going to have to play zone defense. Exactly. We're used to having the man advantage, but we're going to have to play some very interesting zone defense here. I can't wait to see, are we allowed to tease what it's going to be about?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I think we should. I think we should. Yo guys don't want to miss this. Okay, so DocTV has this series called Wild Tails. If you haven't seen it yet, you got to check it out. It's hilarious. We're going to have four veterinary technician and technologist professionals. There's Walter Brown, Jeffrey Van Zeal, I think you pronounce it. Sarah Parsons and Peter Carlos are all here today to share some of their wildest, funniest and most unforgettable stories from behind the scenes at the

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Vet clinic. Yeah. And these are not your ordinary veterinarian professionals. These four people are hilarious. I follow all of them on their socials. They have such great personalities. They bring amazing energy to both the internet and their professions. I mean, we've had Walter Brown before. He's hysterical. So I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. Plus they just got back from Costa Rica doing a special mission trip, so we're going to hear all about that too. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Who wants to hear from us anymore? Let's just get into the episode so we could get to that. Okay, let's

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Do it.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Kristen and Chris present Story Time. All right, Kristen, it is story time. You want to go ahead and kick us off?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Yeah, sure. This is more of a news item. I thought it was kind of interesting since we are going to be talking to our veterinary professionals today. Let's see. There's a new report out that found that 38% of pet parents couldn't cover an $8,000 emergency vet bill. Now that's not surprising. That's a lot of money to get a surprising bill from.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
That'd be one of them.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah. I mean, they say they would have to go into debt. But there was a similar survey where 90% of people said they felt prepared financially before bringing a pet home. So I think there's a disconnect between us. I think the expectation is that there aren't going to be any surprises and there's always a surprise. It just depends on when it's going to happen. You might coast through the first three years with no surprises and then boom, your dog gets stung by a bee and it blows up, you have to go to the vet. Anyway, so I think that it's important to remind folks that those emergency vet visits can really add up. And one of the ways you can protect yourself is to save money, save for the rainy day or get pet insurance. There are also special credit cards like CareCredit that you can get for veterinary bills.

(04:02):
But just remember that these things pop up and you don't want to be in a position where, and this happens really often if you talk to anybody in the veterinary profession, where people simply cannot afford the best treatment so they have to opt for a lesser treatment or in worst cases, no treatment at all. So just prepare yourselves. If you aren't saving for that rainy day, I suggest you start doing so and definitely look into pet insurance.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Pet insurance, pet insurance, pet insurance, pet insurance. I'm going to say it one more time, pet insurance. Let's do it folks. The day that you sign the piece of paper at the adoption clinic or the money changes hands with the breeder, pet insurance. The day it happens. My brother adopted a cat, got pet insurance the same day. Two days later, cat has gastrointestinal bloating, $4,000 bill.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
80% covered by insurance.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Pet insurance. It's pet insurance. It's not rocket science people. It's pet insurance. I've got a story in a similar vein because we're talking to these amazing veterinarians, so I wanted something about animal health and this is very interesting. So Ollie, which they make human grade fresh dog food, they performed their own study for the first time and they called it the State of Dogs 2026. And the headline of this article is that America's dogs are getting healthier, which I think is amazing. So among the reports findings, over 7% of overweight dogs moved into a healthier weight category and dogs classified as highly active rose to over 17% up from 15%. So there's all sorts of great stats in here, but some fun ones. Colorado ranked as the most active dog state. New York had the highest share of dogs with healthy weights and Arizona had the highest share of dogs with healthy teeth.

(06:15):
Interesting. So there's another 15 bullet points in here and I'm not going to list them all because that would just not be a good show. And look, even my TV gave up on me. Look at this. It says to turn the screen back on, press any button, but I'm afraid if I press the button -

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Don't press a button.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Something weird is going to come up. You can actually see the back of my head. If you've ever wondered what the back of Chris's head looks like, you can see it in the reflection of the TV. You can see my makeshift little station. Look, I'm flushing because I'm so embarrassed.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
If you're not watching us on YouTube, you're missing out. You're

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Missing out on an incredibly rare blooper as Chris struggles with technology on this wonderful, wonderful day. But hey, the dogs are getting healthier, which is great. It makes me feel good because we advocate for this kind of stuff all the time, trying to inform you guys on how to make better decisions around your dog's care. So I'm just happy to see things moving in the right direction. Now, if only I could get my technology moving in the right direction, we'd be having an easier morning over here in the PAL studio. But hey, nothing's perfect. Beyond the leash, exploring the untold stories of pet passion and professionalism. We are welcoming not three, possibly four guests into the PAL studio, and I know what you're thinking. Have you ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes at your veterinarian's office? Well, our next guests have seen it all from hilarious misunderstandings and unbelievable emergencies to heartwarming moments that remind them why they chose this profession.

(07:47):
They're the stars of Dog TV's brand new original series, Tales, Wild Tails, where real veterinary professionals share the true stories that you simply couldn't make up. And they didn't just leave the clinic behind. They recently returned from an unforgettable journey to Costa Rica. We were already watching some clips while we were warming up where they worked alongside local veterinarians, visited animal rescue organizations and experienced wildlife conservations up close. That incredible adventure will be featured in a series of Wild Tails special episodes coming later this year, exclusively on Dog TV. So joining us today, let's give them a warm welcome, the incredible team behind Wild Tails, Jeffrey Van Zyl, Peter Carlos, Sarah Parsons, and Walter Brown. Thank you all so much for hopping on the podcast today. We are a Walter Short for now. We're hoping we could grab him in. That's what happens when you lead the vet life though.

(08:42):
Things are always popping up. You never know what could be happening behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
So true.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Where is Walter? Where's

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Walter? I feel like there's a book there. There's an illustrated book there.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
I know. There's got

Speaker 2 (08:55):
To

Speaker 5 (08:55):
Be.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
But let's start with your guys' inspiration. What first, each of you, what inspired your work in veterinary medicine and maybe is there one animal or experience that sort of shifted your perspective and got you set on this journey?

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Who wants to go first? Joffrey, we'll call you out.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, there was one animal. I love that you actually led with that question because there was one animal. I've always, like everybody that goes into veterinary medicine, had a huge love for animals, probably bigger than it should be. It's not an occupation, it's a calling for many of us. So for me, I had a rescue dog. His name was Tally. He was a black lab Great Dane mix, and he only made it to about two, two and a half. Unfortunately, he got diagnosed with lymphoma very early on. It's an aggressive, ugly cancer, something that we've actually made some pretty good advancements on 25 years later. But he ended up passing away after struggling with that disease for five days in a hospital. And I was in that hospital laying in his kennel hour after hour. And I just watched all these veterinarians and these technicians like ants, like worker ants all throughout this ER, this ICU clinic.

(10:12):
And I said, "This is what I want to do." So I immediately signed up for school. I went to Belray, which is an accredited college for veterinary technicians. Did that for about two years, went on into shelter med and every other facet of veterinary medicine after that. And well, the rest is history. Here we are. Here

Speaker 1 (10:31):
We are.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Sarah, how about you?

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Okay, got it. Perfect.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
Did you want to go first because you seem pretty.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, go for it, Peter.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
No, no, I'm drinking coffee. Go ahead.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
Well, I mean, I feel like I would've loved to have one moment like Jofre, but it was kind of a series of moments throughout my life that made me want to be a veterinary technician. From whenever I was little, my parents wouldn't let me have any pets. We had one family dog at one point, but that was it. I wanted my own pet and they were just like, "No, it's going to be left with us whenever you go off to college. So no." And I collected these little plastic animals growing up and immediately whenever I turned 16, I got a job at a vet clinic in the kennels. I feel like that's where a lot of people start in VetMed is in the kennels. You got to start from the bottom. Okay.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
100%.

Speaker 5 (11:26):
And you move up and ended up going to tech school and everything. I absolutely love this field. And I know that it's not something you hear from everybody, but that is the whole point of my social media and all of what me, Pete, Joffrey, Walter do on social media is we try to promote positivity in the field and show people that we can make a difference, we can make a change, and there are a lot of really, really, really cool things. That's why everyone got into the field. And I feel like as they progress in the field, they lose that. They lose that energy, they lose that spark, and we're looking to bring that back. And doing the Costa Rica trip was one of those things that absolutely can bring back that spark. And whenever we're there in the middle of the Costa Rican jungle doing spays and neuters and wellness on all of these animals, you're just looking around at everyone and you're like, "Oh my freaking God, this is amazing." It's hot, it's humid, you're sweating.

(12:30):
Everyone, we're all in basically t-shirt and shorts at whatever point, tank tops even, just working on these animals with these owners that absolutely love their animals, but they don't have resources, they don't have vet clinics, they don't have any of that around them or close to them. And so we were able to go do that and that was just absolutely amazing.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
You forgot to mention that some of us got caught in a massive rainstorm in the middle of it all, Sarah.

Speaker 5 (12:59):
Oh yeah, the rainstorm for sure. Yeah. We got left on the island. Why don't you mention that? We almost got stranded on Isla Chiro or Chira Island. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Did you mention the dinosaurs?

Speaker 2 (13:13):
And I heard, Jofrey, I heard you left your luggage at the airport or something. You had to travel an hour back to get it or something like that.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I don't know what you're talking about. This is not confirmed. This cannot be collaborated. So listen, the stress of getting all the medical equipment in

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Was,

Speaker 3 (13:30):
I mean, at an all time high. I didn't know if customs was going to let through a thousand needles, a thousand syringes, a thousand IV catheters, and then all of our monitoring equipment. So I had three massive suitcases, four total, if you include my own luggage. We got through customs, my suitcases, all the three suitcases with the medical equipment are sitting there. I had such tunnel vision at that point that I was so excited about the medical equipment that I lost, not lost, walked past my own luggage, left it there. Now you asked if it was an hour. It was three hours. We found out

(14:02):
That after we got to our first Airbnb, which was an hour and a half, and driving in Costa Rica, there's not roads everywhere, so it's not like an easy drive, but it was an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back. So Dr. Josh Rosen and I actually were able to hit the road at 6:30 in the morning the next morning to pick up, to go to Lost & Found and pick up my own luggage. But the moral of the story is that I care more about our animals than I do about myself, that's where I'm going with.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, I believe that. I actually

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Forgot the original question that I asked.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Peter, Peter, tell us your career origin story. We have a bunch of questions about Costa Rica.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
Let's throw it out really quick. So it's not one animal, it's all of the animals. And I started my career at 17 years old. I've said this on your podcast. I've been here many times. I started in a pet store. I saw the need to want to help. I saw the people coming in and wanting to help all the time, their pets, and they wanted that quick fix. They wanted that thing off the shelf. And we had to tell them, "You have to go to the vet." And that's where I wanted to get my career started. That's where I wanted to go. So I went to school for two years. Carrington College is where I started my career two years and was hired as an emergency technician right out of school. And that's where I spent most of my 14 years in this career. And I'm loving every bit of it, and that's where my career landed me where we are sitting right now, and I love every bit of it.

(15:23):
Too many memories, too many tears.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Amen. Amen.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Well, you've got so many great stories about Costa Rica. Let's just start off by telling us about how did the trip originate? Was this your first time going down there? Tell us about the team that went down there.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
Should we talk about how it all started as a collaborative?

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah. Yeah. How

Speaker 4 (15:44):
We started as a team? Let's

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Do that. Let's do that. I remember

Speaker 4 (15:46):
Being in Las Vegas. I remember being at the top of the Mandalay Bay and this man comes and taps me on the shoulder. His name's Ray. He's actually the CEO of Pet Insurance Review. Check it out if you don't have pet insurance, you want to get that going. And he started talking with us and he started sitting with us and talking with us about this dream, this passion, this vision that he wanted to do. And here we are now, and we're our second year in. We call it season two, and we can't wait for season three because when we get there, it's going to be even bigger and better. And I'll let someone else chime in about their thoughts with it too.

Speaker 5 (16:20):
Well, you forgot to mention Ray's nickname now that we have for him. It's Stingray because in this ship in Costa Rica, he got stung by Stingray. We were out thirpping before all of the work started. We had to have a couple days of floating and Ray got stung by Stingray and he said it was the most painful thing he has almost ever felt. He was in a lot of pain. Oh my gosh, it was that.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's why I don't go outside.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
Chris, I understand completely. Listen, I told the team, one rule, you have one rule. And listen, I know Pete well. Okay? This guy's a daredevil and an animal. I said, "Don't get hurt."

Speaker 4 (17:07):
I got hurt many times, but mostly it was my feelings.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
It was one rule. It was one rule. Just don't hurt. You can get hurt at the last day. You can get hurt maybe halfway through. But you have to remember in Costa Rica, besides the lack of veterinary hospitals, there is a lot of areas where you are two, three hours removed from human medicine as well. So if we go out to Costa Rica, we get bit, we get any type of injury. The only medical equipment we have at that point is what we have. Now, I'll be honest with you, I will trust a veterinarian over most of my human doctors. No shade, but I really, really trust my veterinarians a lot. We do a lot with a lot of different species, so we would've been covered, but it's one of those things where the team needed to be firing on all pistons, and if one of us was going to get hurt.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
Yeah. So really this Costa Rica trip started with an idea and it turned into the passion that we all share when it comes to veterinary medicine, and it continues to go on, and it's something that we're going to continue to do because we just can't stop, and we want to bring veterinary medicine to every single corner that doesn't have it. And that's where we started. It started in Costa Rica, and you know what? That's really where our heart is, and we want to continue moving forward with that because what we saw and what we did and the impact that we made, man, those are memories that I cannot get rid of, and it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Talk to me a bit about that impact you guys were able to make. It was the four of you and there were some additional people who came down, but not that many, just maybe under a dozen people, but you're able to have such a large impact. Can you guys talk about some of the work you're able to do and how so few people can make such a big difference? Do

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Either of you have the numbers that we have specifically? Do you remember the numbers in which we impacted? How many pets?

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Well over 400. So we did over a hundred spays and neuters, but I think Sarah, you should take this one.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
Sure. So I'm sorry, tell me the question again.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
What kind of impact were you guys able to have with such a small team?

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Oh my gosh, yes. So as Jeffrey said, we did over a hundred spays and neuters within two days, and that was on Kira Island. So we worked with one of the surgeons there in Costa Rica that he is Speedy Gonzalez when it comes to surgery. And so I'm talking that as one surgeon, but one surgeon can't do all of that. You have to have a team ready, patient, patient, patient to go in and come out and recover. You have to have everything. So we basically had to have a team pulling up the induction drugs and the pre-medications. We had to have a team placing IV catheters and shaving the areas and putting on the monitoring equipment. And then you got to have the people coming in, you got to have monitoring with the surgeon inside the surgery suite, which was basically not even four walls.

(20:13):
It was like this tent basically with four tarps. And then once they bring out all the patients, you have to have a recovery team. Not only that, you also have to have people checking inpatients and got to have people doing wellness and vaccines and sick pets and everything. And guess what? Half of us don't speak Spanish. And so you also have to have people kind of translating, and we honestly had to use Google Translate and a broken Spanish that a lot of us know already. So there is a lot that went into it, definitely a lot. But the impact that we made, I can't just bank treating so, so many pets while we were there.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
I don't really think of it as a numbers thing for the little amount of people that we have because I think it was a large team making a huge impact. And if you even have one person that has a drive and that ability and that want to help animals, that's all you need. And to have that many people that we had come together, it was a huge impact and we were able to do huge numbers and it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (21:20):
And when you look at the team,

(21:23):
We have to pivot so often. We don't know what we're walking into. We don't know what our setup is going to be for the day. We don't know which village we're going to go into, what kind of patients we're seeing. Most of these patients are well taken care of, but not very socialized. So it's one of those things where it's like we are constantly on the tips of our toes trying to get things done, and every single person on our team has a background in being able to pivot and go with the flow, which is incredibly important in these situations because you can't do that without it. I think one of the things we really set out to do this time around is we wanted to treat a very common disease called olichiosis, anaplasmosis. These are all tick-borne pathogens, tick-borne diseases that do unfortunately eventually lead to that ultimate outcome that we really wanted to avoid, but it can be treated with some simple testing and some simple medications.

(22:15):
So that was one of our biggest goals to set out, and I think we did a really good job of treating a lot of those diseases this time around.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah. Well, and I can imagine the people whose pets you were helping or treating, they had to be so grateful. What kind of impact did you have on the people there?

Speaker 4 (22:31):
These people were. When you think of other countries and pets, people think poverty, they think all these things, but these animals are the best taken care of animals that you can possibly have, and they're well-mannered, they're fed, everything like that. I mean, we went into it doing a vaccine clinic, and moments later we're treating dogs on a makeshift surgery table because one of the dogs there had bot flies and we're sitting there sedating them, helping treat it, shaving it, prepping it, doing all these things. And then you see these animals coming in in this huge line and you're like, "Where's the sick animals? Where's the poverty animals? Where's the one?" No, these are well-loved and cared for animals that we were treating, and it was a blessing for these communities and these families to get the care that they never get. So it was amazing.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
Not one pet owner had any complaints. No. I will say like that. Very grateful. Granted, it was, yes, free services to them, but they were so helpful. They were willing to hold their dog. They were willing to let us do our thing. They were basically just - Oh,

Speaker 4 (23:30):
They were waiting there in the heat with us. I mean, they were having fun with us and they waited most of them the entire day with us too, just enjoyed being around because they enjoyed what we were doing. Joe

Speaker 5 (23:40):
And

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Pete

Speaker 5 (23:41):
Were out there playing soccer with the little kids and everything. It was so great. It felt like

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Me and Joefre were playing babysitter most of the time while the adults were playing.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
They're big sockies. They may look tough, but they were down with the kids. I

Speaker 4 (23:57):
Had pockets full of candy to give the kids while we were there because most of them don't get candy or treats and stuff like this. So every time I'd give them candy, I'd get bombarded by a bunch of kids because I had the candy. They don't know how to translate and they don't know how to say it in English. So when they would translate their thank you on their phone and they would put it up to mayor and say, "Thank you. I love you so much," because that's how it would translate. I was like, "Oh, that's great." That is so

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Cute. That's

Speaker 1 (24:24):
Adorable. So other than the pets, Costa Rica is well known for having some incredible wildlife. So I'm wondering while you guys were down there, I mean, I saw in some of the clips you guys were working outside a lot, any close encounters with anything dangerous that goes bump in the night?

Speaker 5 (24:42):
No.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
I say no. No. I'm not stressed thinking about it. No. No, it's the

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Animals that stayed in the dark on the peripheral that we were scared of. The bag. We heard quite a bit. The howler monkeys, we saw quite a bit of monkeys. We saw

Speaker 5 (24:57):
The howler monkeys there. There

Speaker 4 (24:58):
Was wildlife in the form of lizards, critters, insects, things like this. The mosquitoes that are the size of hummingbirds, which I'm still scratching my legs right now. But we would pull over when we would see an iguana or those little lizard things that look like iguanas. I forget the name. They're

Speaker 5 (25:15):
Called garobos. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:17):
Garobos

Speaker 5 (25:18):
Are like iguanas, but they are omnivores. Iguanas are herbivores, but garobos eat both meat and veggies. And so they eat small animals and - I think

Speaker 3 (25:31):
She was going to say eat both meat and plants. Plants.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Yeah. Well, sorry.

Speaker 5 (25:35):
Yeah, that's what I meant. He's

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Paused.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
Yeah. Oh, sorry. I'm

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Curious to know from each of you, if you could share, was there one animal, a particular animal you helped on this trip that left an impact or made an impression or maybe even just one person?

Speaker 4 (25:51):
There's quite a few. Sarah, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
What was the

Speaker 5 (25:59):
Question? I missed it. I

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Almost covered that so perfectly because her speed's positive.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
So you guys do all this amazing work. You come back home to the United States, back to your respective communities. What did you bring back with you? You brought so much to Costa Rica, but what did Costa Rica give you to bring back to your communities and the pets that you take care of every day?

Speaker 5 (26:22):
I got a Colombia.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
I wanted to say something humorous like heartworm or something, but we can't get heartworm from the mosquito. Are you sure?

(26:35):
You know what? It left me with this passion to want to keep doing it. Honestly, I'm sitting here after Costa Rica and I'm like, "When's my next trip? When's my next chance I can help new animals? When's this? When's that? When's this?" But it honestly gives me that in vet med, we have this, what I would consider a burnout, and I'm constantly and repetitively doing the same thing every single day in clinic. And it's amazing. Don't get me wrong. I love helping animals. I like doing this. But when you can throw a wild card into it and say, "You're going to go to Costa Rica, you're going to help animals." What I bring back are not only the memories, but the fact that I did something that impacted so many lives, not just pets, but communities, people, and those around them. And then that's what's my lifting, because now I've got this huge thing that I'm walking on and I'm just like.

(27:21):
Because I'm just so happy and can't wait for the next adventure.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
I will tell you this, that the one thing that I brought back from Costa Rica was a level of fearless that I hadn't quite reached yet. So we obviously see several aggressive patients a day in my ER, but not a single one scared me as much as some of the pets in Costa Rica did, especially some of the ones that we did house visits to. I remember one specific one that lived with an owner in Costa Rica, and obviously he's very attached to his owner, but probably doesn't get socialized too much outside of that realm. I watched Pete and Dr. Shiloh almost get attacked to the point where I saw them move at light speed. And if they didn't, this was a big dog. If he would've gotten ahold of Pete or Shiloh, it would've been lights out one way or another.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
I remember this. The guy was telling us there's the dog and he's in the back corner. We never saw a dog. We saw a chain and we're coming up - A

Speaker 5 (28:19):
Chain leading into the shadows of the corner. The eyes

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Just blowing over the house and we're still see nothing. I'm looking off in the distance. We're not looking at it. And then all of a sudden all you hear is a bark and then instantly it's like fight or flight. I'm running backwards and the dog is literally on the chain almost going to get you. And we both just kind of jumped into action. We're like, "What just happened?" That was a really memorable moment. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah. But I mean, honestly, when I look at that, I remember coming back and we had a chihuahua, Ben, who was one of the people that came with us. We had an angry, angry chihuahua that came into my ER vet clinic here in the US. I was just like rapid

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Towel. Aren't there only angry chihuahuas?

Speaker 3 (29:03):
As a chihuahua lover and previous chihuahua owner for many years, I will say yes. Yes, there are only angry chihuahuas.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Wow. I

Speaker 5 (29:14):
Remember one of the. Actually is not patient, but patient. We had one guy on one of our last clinics on one of the last days come in, he had a sack with him, just kind of like a potato sack. And we're like, "Okay. Hi, how can you help you?" Opens up a sack and there's a whole bunch of puppies in there just like, "Hey." The whole bag is just shaking with happy puppies and we're like, "Oh,

Speaker 3 (29:37):
Okay."

Speaker 5 (29:38):
That

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Is a bag of happiness. That is a bag of therapy. That is a bag of glory. That is literally like you open it up and the heavens open up and the light shine down and you just hear

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Angels singing

Speaker 3 (29:49):
And it's like, "Oh, thank God I need this." Horrible

Speaker 5 (29:52):
Potato sack of puppies. And there's even a guy that brought in, and a lot of these owners don't even have leashes. I remember one of the guys They brought in four big dogs on one single rope. He maneuvered it somehow to where it went through around each of them, didn't even have collars on it, had to leash up each one of them on this one singular rope. And we're like, "All right, kudos to you, dude." Yeah, I've never seen anyone get

Speaker 4 (30:17):
So creative with the difference of leashes that they have and carriers.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
Oh my God. When do people bring these? They're on twine, on rope, chains.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
And I will say this, I think when Pete touched on this earlier, when we think about some of these countries that we're going to plan on going to, we think of these Sarah McLaughlin style videos where the dog is limping and they're emaciated and they're not. Again, these trips are successful because the community is so involved and so willing and able to take care of these pets to their best of the ability. So we literally are just a small add-on. We're not there to change veterinary medicine. We're not there to do anything. We bring what we have and we help, but without the communities that we came across in Costa Rica, we wouldn't have been able to do this because these people bring these pets to us. We have a little station that is set up and my wife and I always say, the first trip to Costa Rica, we said, "We're going to rescue one of these dogs in Costa Rica and bring them back to Colorado." After we left Costa Rica, we were begging one of those dogs to rescue us because they're the ones living the most glorious life I've ever seen.

(31:40):
And we didn't dare, we didn't dare take any of these dogs away from Costa Rica. Again, how do I get rescued by one of these dogs? Because they live a beautiful life and the Puravida, that's what they've got going on.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Wonderful. Well, it sounds like you've got enough stories to fill an entire season of wild tails from Costa Rica, but I do know, from what I understand, you are going to be doing a special focused on your experience there in Costa Rica. So I know that's going to be fantastic. And you're even going to be shooting some new episodes coming up real soon. Wild tails, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. You've got these wild tails from your practices here in the States. How do you compare that to the Wild Tails in Costa Rica? It's just another level. Yeah, a completely different level because like you said, you don't have your bougie hospital.

Speaker 4 (32:33):
Yeah. Some of my stories were actually declined for sensorine issues, but I've got some pretty wild tails even in the States.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
It's just on a whole different level, like you said. I mean, it's comparing apples to oranges, but I will say, yeah, this next season of Wild Tails, tune in because we've got some whoppers of stories, some that are going to blow your mind right out the water. Honestly, when I listen to these guys when we're on set shooting the show, I'm looking at Pete, I'm looking at Walter, I'm looking at Sarah. I'm like, "Do you swear you didn't make this up? This is real life. This is what happened. We surprise each other.

Speaker 4 (33:11):
To back it up.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
We are coming up on time. We got to let you three go. Joe free, Sarah, Peter, thank you, A, for all the amazing work you do in your respective communities, and B, for taking some time out of your busy schedules to join us today. We can't wait to check out the new episodes of Wild Tails. I'll be tuned in Lockton in totality, and that Costa Rica episode is definitely going to be special.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Thanks for the work y'all do. Thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Wow, that group. Go ahead. How do we do this every

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Time?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
All right, pause for that-ing. Those were some really incredible stories. I'm upset we couldn't get Walter on the line too though. It's tough to coordinate four veterinarian schedules. It's true. And I'm sure he was doing something urgent, but still we got to look at some of the clips and I mean that trip to Costa Rica must have been so magical.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Yeah. And you know what's cool is it was as impactful on those people we just talked to as it was on the pets that they served. You can tell it's just changed their life. That's

Speaker 1 (34:23):
What doing good does. Doing good is good for the soul.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Exactly. Turns

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Out makes you into a better person, a little happier and more appreciative. So I can't wait to check out the new episodes that are coming out. I mean, I was serious when I said listening to them record at Global Pet Expo, I was aghast with some of the things that these folks go through. Crazy stuff. We keep it tame here on Pal. It's not going to be like that over there. No. Be sure to check them out. The product of the week. All right. It is time for our products of the week. Wild Tales addition. And you know what Costa Rica has a lot of, Kristen?

Speaker 2 (35:09):
What?

Speaker 1 (35:10):
They have a lot of reptiles. They have a lot of reptiles. Yes, they do. I was doing some reading on some common issues that reptiles face, some things that might surprise you or maybe anticipating some questions that our audience might have about reptile care. Something I learned is that while reptiles have scales and not necessarily the same type of skin as human beings or mammals, they can still get skin conditions oftentimes during molting where they shed their skin to grow. You could imagine that that could be an uncomfortable process, especially if you're not in tip-top shape and something goes wrong. You could get these. Your reptile -

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Your reptile.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah. You as a reptile person running the shadow government could get these dry spots all over and the pictures are not flattering. It looks like failed molting.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
I'm getting itchy now. I

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Know. I was

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Talking about it. You

Speaker 1 (36:09):
See me thinking about it? The good news is that there are over-the-counter solutions to this. This is something that if you own a reptile, you could avoid the vet visit by having an over-the-counter solution. Ximox makes all sorts of over-the-counter pet pharmaceuticals. You can still call them pharmaceuticals if they're over the counter, right? Sure. Why not?

Speaker 2 (36:29):
I think so. Well, I

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Don't know. And

Speaker 2 (36:31):
This

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Is their xylifin topical spray and only one spray bottle. I mean, it's a pretty big bottle too, two ounces for something you just spray a couple times. It's only 10 bucks. And this is pitched as supports healthy, complete shedding while soothing, dry, irritated skin, helps to relieve irritated skin and dermatology issues, including wounds, cuts, abrasions, and abnormal shedding. So those wounds, cuts, and abrasions could happen during the molting process. And it could be a little scary because you're thinking like, "Oh, shouldn't my reptile kind of have this under control?" It's kind of the one responsibility I give them is to handle their own molting, but it doesn't always go according to plan. So this is a great product, just keeping your home for when that time comes for your pet reptile, whether it's some type of lizard or a snake. These are often more of a problem with the lizard.

(37:22):
The snakes usually have good moltings because they're just a tube, but the lizards, it's around their phalanges and their joints and stuff where the skin bends and can get stuck. You can run into these issues. So highly recommend the product, especially at 10 bucks. It's one of those

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Things that

Speaker 1 (37:38):
You should just keep in the medicine cabinet.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
So unfair. I mean, reptiles can buy skincare for 10 bucks, but women, I can't buy skincare for 10 bucks.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah,

Speaker 2 (37:48):
That's why

Speaker 1 (37:48):
I look like this.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Reptiles won't pay more than 10 bucks.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
They need to

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Make a

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Spray -

Speaker 2 (37:53):
They know women will pay 1500 bucks.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
They need to make a spray for the bags under my eyes. I'm just letting everybody know this is my eyes wide open. Look at these. My eyes are wide open, 100% open. And I look like I did 10 rounds with Tyson.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Oh, that's so funny. Well, you are - Yeah, I can't

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Afford skincare either.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
You are the father of a one-year-old, so that might explain to you. And

Speaker 1 (38:22):
That's basically 10 rounds with Tyson.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Okay. So my product of the week is for little pets. Actually, it could be for a reptile too. It could be for a rabbit, guinea pig, reptile, the little critters. It's called the Full Cheeks Small Pet Top Entry Travel Carrier. That's a mouthful. Wow. But it's this cute little carrier. You see the standard size ones for cats and small dogs? Well, this one is like a mini, a mini carrier. Let's see, who makes this thing? It's at PetSmart for 16 bucks. I mean, that's a pretty reasonable price. I already said it's for rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferris, or reptiles. And the cool thing is it has a top entry design, which is a lot less stressful for the pet when you go to put them in. It's harder to cram them through the door, especially because this carrier's smaller. So the top opens real big and wide, so you can just set them down in the carrier.

(39:20):
Let's see. I can't read my notes because they're too small and I need my glasses. Make them bigger.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Blow them

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Up. Yeah, I'm going to blow it up. But anyway, I just think this is a really good idea because I bet a lot of people use the standard side carriers for their little pets, but I think they would feel more cozy and more secure in something that's a little bit more small. What am I saying? Do you know what I'm saying? I

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Know what you're saying. I think we're both struggling today.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
I think that wild tails, those interviews, that just wore me out.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Brain rot, yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Brain rot. Anyway.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
I need to be stuck in a small carrier and smuggled somewhere, smuggled out of this room.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
I just though it was cute because I'd never really seen one and I though, that's a really smart idea. So if you're schlepping your bunny around in a great big carrier, stop it. Go get this little one from PetSmart. He'll feel a lot more cozy in there.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
Yes, that is great. There we go. Well, we made it through products. We did it.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Thank goodness. Let's move on. Q&As.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
All right, Kristen, it's time for our favorite part of the show. That's right. We're going to answer two questions from our wonderful audience. And I know what you're thinking, wonderful audience. How do I have my question answered by Chris and Kristen? Well, it could not be more simple. Head on over to petsadlife.org/podcast. Scroll on down to the bottom of that page and you'll see a form to submit your question. Or if you are feeling as brave as four veterinarians heading down to Costa Rica because dog TV told them to, you can record a voice memo and you may hear your question played live on the air. How cool is that? This time. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Here

Speaker 2 (41:03):
We go. Chris, I got a question for you.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
This one is from David in Denver, Colorado. He says, "Every pet owner hopes they'll ever need it, but if something does happen at home before we can get to the vet, what are some basic first aid steps that we all should know? And are there things people often do that actually make the situation worse?"

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Yeah, absolutely. I think, believe it or not, I had a slight stint in my life where I was a professional rescuer. I was a lifeguard for waterfront and riverfront and wilderness first aid. So I learned a lot of these skills and it's very important to note that there's not a lot of difference between animal and human first aid. So you could actually kind of learn both at the same time. And what I would say as a pet owner, things that you should definitely know is wound care, 100%. If you have a gravel driveway and a dog who runs rampant, you're going to end up with rocks in uncomfortable places, getting some cuts on the paws. Just as an example, I was with some family and they have the most adorable miniature poodle mix and she had gotten out and had stepped on a piece of broken glass and they were about to bring the dog to the vet, which they did and absolutely shouldn't, but the paw was bleeding everywhere.

(42:34):
Everybody's thinking, "What do we do? What do we do?" But you do the same exact thing you do with a person. You clean it with a little alcohol swab, you wrap it in some gauze or a bandage, you tape that down, and then you get them in the car to go to the veterinarian for more advanced care. But you don't want to overthink these things. Think what would I do for a person if the dog seems like they're choking? There is a way to do a lightheim on the dog and clear, get your finger in there and clear the throat. And think of it the same way as a person. If you saw somebody in distress on the street, you wouldn't start handing them medication, right? You wouldn't make them vomit without knowing more information. So things to avoid, you shouldn't be medicating your dog unless they have a prescription and you've been instructed by your veterinarian to give them this medication if this happens.

(43:27):
You shouldn't be attempting to do anything with a tool. If it requires a tool, you shouldn't be doing it at home unless you're trained. Pick up, buy a pet first aid kit. Everything that comes in the pet first aid kit, look at what's in there. This is also important. People buy the first aid kit and then never open it. Open your first aid kit, look what's in it. You're going to see bandages, you're going to see alcohol swabs, you're going to see maybe a muzzle, like a little muzzle to get on the dog. You're going to see gloves. Those are your signs that these are things you can do, right? Anything that's not in that first aid kit, you shouldn't be doing and you should be calling an emergency vet line describing the situation. And if there's something they want you to do, they will tell you to do it.

(44:12):
I hope that was helpful.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
That's great advice. And you know what? Make sure you have that emergency vet number in your phone or post it somewhere in your house where you can easily find it.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm just hyper aware of all this stuff because toddler and his face goes on things all the time. The first aid kit is just out and open in the living room at this point. It's ready. Yeah. All right, Kristen, you wanted the first one on our sheet here, right?

Speaker 2 (44:40):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
All right. So the first question I have on my sheet comes from Jennifer in Columbus, Ohio. And Jennifer asks, "My dog has gotten into things a couple of times and it's always hard to know what's a true emergency and what can wait until my regular vet opens. What are the biggest warning signs that tell pet owners, don't wait. Go to the emergency vet right now."

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Okay. Well, another great question, Jennifer, and this is great with our theme, our veterinary medical theme today. And it kind of goes along with your advice too, Chris. It's somewhat like humans, except that humans can say to each other, "I don't feel right. I think I need to go to the ER." So your pet can't do that. So there are a handful of signs that should send you straight to the ER. For example, if your pet has difficulty breathing, if they have a distended or bloated abdomen, if they collapse, so they can't stand on their own. If there's uncontrolled bleeding, just like what Chris said first, make sure you clean the wound, get it wrapped up, apply pressure, and then get them to the vet. Any repeated vomiting or retching, those are signs, especially if nothing's coming up, that's an important sign to get to the vet.

(45:58):
And if you happen to know that they ingested something toxic or swallowed something they shouldn't have, or if they're having a seizure that lasts more than a couple of minutes, I would say if they have a seizure, period, I'd be headed straight to the veterinarian. And then just like Chris said, when in doubt, just pick up the phone and call the emergency. Either call your vet if it's during the day, but if it's after hours or the weekend, you can call the emergency vet to ask them what they think. We've talked a lot about telehealth, televet services here on the show. So if you subscribe to one of those, you can ask them as well. But just err on the side of caution if you are in doubt and get to the vet.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Yeah. And I would say have those numbers saved in your phone, ready to go.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah. Know who to call, when to call, be

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Prepared,

Speaker 1 (46:46):
And that could be your greatest advantage is preparedness.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Speaking of preparedness, I'm not prepared to let go of this show because I had such a fun time, but alas, we are at the end. It was fun. What a wild, wild tail episode of PAL, huh?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Those guys have a lot of energy. They really

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Do. And be sure to check out the new program Wild Tails. By the time this is airing, it's live, right? You could go watch everything on dog TV. Dog TV unleashed the fast channel. So go ahead and check that out. In the meantime, follow us on the Soch. Preston.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
I was going to say, on the SOSH, the Costa Rica episode is going to be coming out soon. So be sure to check that one out too.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yes, that is going to be awesome. We heard a lot about it on today's episode, so be sure to tune in. But until then, we'll see you in about a week. So bye.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Stay wild.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Pets Ad Life, your guide to the latest in pet trends, products, and the joy of the human animal bond with Kristen Levine and me, Chris Bonifati, powered by the American Pet Products Association and Dog TV.