Dr. Ashley Woods: Support Your Pet in a Wellness Lifestyle

Sheri Davidson: 0:19

Hello friends, you are listening to the wellness inspired podcast. I'm your host, Sheri Davidson and I'm here with my co host Finn. And for those of you that are new to the podcast, Finn is my terrier mix, rescue dog. He has been with me since 2012. He is a big part of my life and my practice. So much. I made him the chief executive greeter at element five, acupuncture and wellness. He is a huge, huge chip there and he adds an element of love and healing that is way outside of my scope of practice. We make a great team there and in life, he is my best friend. And that's why this podcast is about pets too. And this episode is about pet wellness. But first, a teaser for an upcoming episode. Are you familiar with Fung Shui? It is the Chinese art and practice that focuses on the placement of objects in order to create a sense of balance and harmony. And one important goal of Fung Shui is to promote health and wellness by improving the flow of energy in your environment. Now Fung Shui can be very complex, especially in Classical Feng Shui. You know, I studied Fung Shui while I was in Chinese medical school in Austin, and I started studying it because of my design background, I thought it would be a great fit. And I studied classical Fung Shui. And in the end, I stopped because I realized that this is a whole other career. And I wanted to focus my intention on traditional Chinese medicine. So we're gonna keep it simple here, because it can get really complex. But maybe in the future episodes, we can jump in a little bit deeper. So I have invited Frankie Hickson, a Fung Shui practitioner in Houston onto the podcast to talk about the benefits of Fung Shui for health. So I hope you tune in, because I think it'll be an exciting episode. All right, let's dive into this episode on pet wellness. You know, wellness is often associated with human health, but is just as important for pets. In this episode, we gravitated toward dogs because of my co host Finn. But wellness is for all pets. I had a cat for 17 years, his name was Jack. And he was the best cat ever. He stuck with me through thick and thin and 17 years for a cat as long but it's not long enough in the big scheme of things. And it's the same with dogs. They don't live long enough. Finn is pushing 11 We think because he's a rescue dog. And he has slowed down a bit. And he was also a few years ago diagnosed with intervertebral disk disease. So we have to be a little more cautious these days. You know, he's a beautiful trail runner, but we had to pull back on the intense trail running and that's okay, he still gets out there. He loves going to my parents because he is free to explore and run around. And he does it all with a huge smile on his face. And it makes me so happy to see him like that. So with all of that said, when he has an episode, it breaks my heart. I don't want to see him in pain. And unfortunately, it is a progressive disease and I will do anything to keep him out of an episode, prolonging his quality of life and keeping him on the trails as long as he can be there even if we're walking. And I'm happy to say he is doing great. We're learning how to manage them when he isn't an episode. He has medication so he goes the western route. He has anti inflammatories, muscle relaxers and pain meds. However, the goal is to keep him out of an episode, or at least reduce them. And we have done that with chiropractic adjustments, massage, cold laser therapy, aqua therapy, and acupuncture. So I think we know a little bit about pet wellness, we have seen firsthand that dogs can greatly benefit from a wellness approach to care. Now, Finn has something we're trying to manage. But a wellness approach to care is for every dog to increase their vitality and longevity. We want them at their best for as long as we can have them and that means not only providing them with the basics like food, shelter, but also making sure they get a nutritious diet and routine physical exams, vaccinations and bloodwork. And it's also important to get plenty of exercise socialization and mental stimulation, just like us. A wellness centered approach to pet care can help dogs Stay Healthy both physically and mentally. And it can also prevent behavior problems from developing. And in addition, and this is my favorite wellness care can help build the bond between owner and dog leading to a happier and more rewarding relationship. It's a win win situation. So if you're looking to improve your dog's health and well being wellness is the way to go. So let's jump into our conversation with Dr. Ashley woods. She is a doctor of veterinarian medicine. She graduated from Tuskegee School of Veterinary Medicine in 2011. She got a Master's of Animal Science in 2007 from Prairie View a&m University, and she has a Bachelors of Arts and English from Oberlin College. She is also a wife, a mom of two twin girls, and a furry dog and cat. And she currently works at sunset animal hospital as a day in urgent care practitioner. So let's do this. Hi, Dr. Woods morning, welcome to the podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. I invited you because you are a veterinarian. Yes. And an awesome one. Thank you. And you were also Finn's vet? Yes. Yeah. Finn is the I don't know if you know this, but Finn is the co host of the show.

Ashley Woods: 6:31

Oh, yes. Laying down on the job.

Sheri Davidson: 6:36

He's support. He's supporting us. So we thought it would be fun to have you on to talk about pet wellness. Yes. And I looked at some stats. And I don't know if these are good resources, the American pet product Association. Have you heard of them? I haven't. You haven't. So? Yeah. Well, they said that 70% of US households have at least one pet. And I read that it was the highest on record. And it's just growing. Sounds accurate? Yeah. But I think that pets and for me dogs, I had a cat ones. My cat's name was Jack. But now I just have fun. And I think pets have found their way into our homes and our hearts. And I know I think of Finn as a family member. My mom calls him

Ashley Woods: 7:19

my firstborn. Grandchildren

Sheri Davidson: 7:22

grant her grandchildren. Exactly. I am a dog mom. And I know I'm not the only one out there. And I again, another stat from the American pet products is predicting that we'll spend nearly $109 billion this year on our pets.

Ashley Woods: 7:38

There's a large increase in people spending more money on pets also, because people aren't really having children. So pets have become children. And so everyone's super interested in taking care of their dogs, which we do see it's increasing how long dogs live and how better they live? Well, and cats. We don't want to forget cats. Yeah, don't forget cats.

Sheri Davidson: 7:59

But they're worth it. They are worth it, but worth it. They don't live long enough for me like I'm like they just don't live long enough. So anything that I can do to prolong his life and keep him healthy. I want to do right. So Finn is super into wellness. He sees you yearly or as needed when he has his flare ups. But he's been doing acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, aqua therapy, cold laser therapy. He's been doing it all.

Ashley Woods: 8:27

Everything that we can do that doesn't rely on always taking a pill every day is is great. I really love that. Yeah, well, I mean medicine, just like with us, taking a pill every single day is gonna cause side effects. So if we can find additional ways to support our animals that are outside of typical western medicine, that's really good. Yeah,

Sheri Davidson: 8:49

I love that so much. And I think that's why I love you so much. And I love you taking care of men. Thank you. So anyways, I think this is a great topic for our podcast. What I would love for our listeners to get out of this, by the end of our conversation are the top things that we can do for our pets and their wellness. But before we jump into that conversation, I would love for you to tell people about you. Okay, so we can start there and then we'll jump into our conversation.

Ashley Woods: 9:15

So my full name is Ashley woods. I have been practicing for 11 years yesterday.

Sheri Davidson: 9:22

Congratulations. Thanks.

Ashley Woods: 9:24

I have always done small animal, some exotics when I when I first graduated, so I worked for a large corporation for three years, left them in relief. So basically relief is just sort of like substitute teaching for veterinary medicine. I did that for three months to take a little bit of a break and then I started and did emergency medicine for one year. I did that overnight and then transition into a day. Overnight practitioners.

Sheri Davidson: 9:53

Sorry, he's, he's he wants me to he wants to get in my lap. We are trying to record it. Podcast.

Ashley Woods: 10:02

Okay, sorry, I transitioned to well, it was an overnight day emergent practice. So I saw emergencies and saw general wellness appointments. And I've done that now. We're almost eight years. In between that I also, with my previous employer started a nonprofit, some people may know about mercy Animal Hospital. So we saw pets for three years as a nonprofit, where my goal was to help people who can't necessarily afford regular day practices, because costs are very high. And so we wanted to provide full service quality medicine to people who otherwise don't have access to it, this is our way to try to keep pets in people's households, or avoid euthanasia. And in cases that we can treat. So, you know, because pets are important, you know, senior senior people like the citizens, we they love their pets, but they can't always afford to take care of them. So we did that for three years until we lost our lease. So I'm now back at sunset Animal Hospital, seeing day, practice day emergencies and day, general medicine for now. And then hopefully transitioning to buying something or going into another sort of nonprofit situation on my own. Yeah,

Sheri Davidson: 11:20

you know, I didn't know the story behind it. I didn't know what your mission was behind it. So I that's where I met you. Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I met you at Mercy pet clinic. And I think one of the things that, like I said, I really appreciated about you was, you know, I want to take care of Finn. But sometimes I do feel like people upsell me a lot. And I'm like, Oh, I really want to take care of my dog. I want to do what's best on but I want to know what that is. What do I need to do? Is it the base? What's the base of one? Yeah. And I really appreciated that about you and mercy pet clinic. So we're still with you.

Ashley Woods: 11:56

Yeah, we're we miss the practice. But I think that that's something that a lot of people see just even in general human medicine. Yeah. Like, if you're seeing your regular PCP, they often are like, hey, but do you want these vitamins at the end of your visit? Yeah, like, do I need these vitamins? Yeah, and I think that that happens in veterinary medicine, just because we've, we sort of are like PCP, so doctors are trying to survive and pay their bills. So and then they're also you know, off their salary, they also some places get production. So then it's like, if I sell you more, I technically make more than at the month. But that's never, I became a veterinarian knowing this wasn't going to be I'm not gonna be a millionaire. That's unfortunately, most veterinarians, we just aren't going to be at least not practiced with practice. So I just, I know how I want to be treated. I've had lots of emergencies with my own dogs because they're bad. And you know, if you can just be honest with me, Do I need an X ray? Yeah, I really need an X ray. You know, we'd figure it out. But if you don't try these meds and see what happens, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I really appreciate that. So what did make you become a veterinarian? Oddly, I wanted to be a marine biologist, really. So I did all these camps to do marine biology. And then I realized that was more than animals. And there's a lot of plants involved. And so I then pivoted, because it was more about the animal. So I decided I would do veterinary medicine and focus on marine animals. But exotics is a very small portion of veterinarians, and they're very difficult jobs to get. And I'm an older vet, I went to vet school after my master's. So I started med school, about at 24. So I graduated when I was close to 30. And I was like, I'm ready to just go one place and be there. And I'm not going to just fly around looking for a job. So yeah. Are you from Houston? Sort of. I'm an Army brat. So Houston is home because my parents are here, but I'm from everywhere you're from

Sheri Davidson: 14:03

that's my dad was that way. His dad was an Air Force. He moved around a lot. Yeah, it's

Ashley Woods: 14:08

nice. But then, you know, at some point, yeah. You want roots. Yeah. Now I'm ready to move again. But yeah,

Sheri Davidson: 14:14

well, you know, it's funny. My dad was the same way because he was he traveled around a lot when he was in school. And now he doesn't want to go anywhere. His roots are down. He's like, I traveled. I don't need to. I want my friends. I want my home. That's it. Yeah,

Ashley Woods: 14:30

I think as adults, it's harder. Yes. You know, as a kid, you're like, okay, and everybody's naturally makes friends when you're a child. And then as you get older, it's gets weird. And yeah, we all get our own, like anxieties about stuff. So and then you just just stay at home.

Sheri Davidson: 14:45

To stay at home. Okay, great. Well, so. So you ran the nonprofit. That's where that's where we met mercy pet clinic. And I think you already answered my question as far as like what your interest was in running the nonprofit and that was bringing affordable health care with kids. Quality Care yes to two people. So that would keep pets in homes and maybe off

Ashley Woods: 15:07

the streets off the streets and decreasing euthanasia. And then in Houston, our major issue is the amount of pets we have on the streets. Yeah, a lot of that has to do with that we don't educate about spaying and neutering and why we spay and neuter, culturally, southerners do not spay and neuter. And culturally, we have pets who just live outside. There's nothing wrong with a dog being outside, you know, things are taken care of correctly. Yeah, but there's a lack of education. And there's a big disparity between really expensive hospitals and then like the low cost vaccine clinic, and that's education. So when you're going in the low cost for them to stay afloat is to see as many pets as they can. So that means I have five minutes with you. But in five minutes, am I teaching you about, you know, heartworms why we spay and neuter? And they're not. So then, you know, a lot of those clients who saw mercy had never known they didn't know why they weren't heartworm prevention, or they would take interest and give one heartworm pill and say, Oh, that's what I got. And then never give it again, because they were never told why they were doing it. Interesting. So most people want to I mean, definitely everywhere. There's outliers who never follow directions. Yeah, but definitely most people want to do the best for their pet

Sheri Davidson: 16:22

and they just don't know. Now, did you see that a majority were rescued dogs.

Ashley Woods: 16:30

We see. We see. Probably I would say 5050. Yeah, the people who tend to rescue always rescue and like cat people. Those cats always find them. Yeah, it's like they just these cats. No, this place is a place. And then other ones are people people buy a lot of dogs. Yeah, it's still a big market. big market for buying dogs. And Craigslist is you know, a big issue with that. It's great for backyard breeders. So they're breeding you know, sick puppies and selling them and then those people you can't ever get in contact with them. But there's big money and selling so until people stopped buying as much or making sure they buy from, you know, a reputable source. They're gonna continue to do that. Yeah.

Sheri Davidson: 17:16

I was just wondering if any of the rescue like friends for life or the what's the big one? The big rescue

Ashley Woods: 17:29

HBA use in pets, yes,

Sheri Davidson: 17:30

maybe it's used in Pets Alive. Do they do any kind of education? So they're already neutered. And yes, most

Ashley Woods: 17:36

of them were spayed when they are adopted. So friends for life does a ton of education. Okay. They're really good about educating they help their Foster's and arrest us once or rescuers once they get their pets with training, you know, behavioral health. So they're very good about that. I do think they probably have the subset of people who already know a lot of that and who were even willing to do all of that work. HPA they started after Harvey that's why they actually came down here. It's offset of Austin Pets Alive. And so they were honestly overwhelmed. They had so many animals after Harvey after Harvey and a lot of Pitbull mixes and so we actually worked with him when we opened after Harvey and helps with a lot of their spay neuters because they actually didn't have a vet, because they started off as just trying to, you know, help with all these pets that were were just floating around after the after the storm. That's crazy.

Sheri Davidson: 18:32

What there's a little bit off subject, but I do want to ask you, a lot of people are scared of pit bulls. What are your What are your thoughts? And I have probably met

Ashley Woods: 18:42

two pit bulls who are actually aggressive. Yeah, in 11 years in pig teddy bears. Yeah, they're typically super sweet. Yeah, those dogs that were aggressive or dogs who were often backyard dogs and only socialize with the family. So part of a big part of it is socialization. Yeah. Unfortunately, some of those pupils that end up in rescue situations are dogs who are fought at or used as bait dogs. And so they can sometimes be a little more difficult behaviorally, yeah, but typically still are very good with humans. It's the like, another dog component would be what makes them aggressive. But most of those dogs would training and patients. Most most dogs are training and patients are very good.

Sheri Davidson: 19:20

Yeah, I saw one of my friends. She had a pit bull. And so I knew her when it was a puppy. And it was just it was 110 pound and wild and happy happiness. And it would it was a Snuggler and she had a little kitten, and she would post videos of the cat to swatting the dog in the face and the dog was so gentle with the cat. Most super sweet

Ashley Woods: 19:47

would say, I mean, pitbulls most big dogs are either gonna love kittens and cats. Yeah, or, or chase them. There's like no in between. But I would say most big dogs are the ones who really want to cuddle. I had a Rottweiler and that's He would sit in my lap all day if he just want love in the moment and was like, You need to stay away from me. So

Sheri Davidson: 20:08

well, Finn is not a Snuggler. But he is attached to my side, that's for sure.

Ashley Woods: 20:13

Yeah, well, they don't have to. I mean, sometimes it's nice not to have children, you know, a lot of snuggling,

Sheri Davidson: 20:22

snuggling. Oh my gosh, that's funny. Okay, so how much of your practice would you say is managing lifestyle conditions like obesity or I don't know about diabetes is that more of a lifestyle for a dog

Ashley Woods: 20:42

so for a dog diabetes is so diabetes in dogs is based off overfeeding over feedings, okay, that's just like, type two type one hours, give them time to send people. So it is about diet. But once dogs are diabetic, there's nothing we just have to stay on insulin for life. If a cat becomes diabetic, they can always become non diabetic through insulin and diet they can switch off, but it is all health. So that's based off overfeeding. Not enough exercise. Yeah, sometimes it is more genetics, a certain breeds are prone to diabetes, but like which ones so miniature pinchers tend to can be diabetic Schnauzers. Now, honestly, we see everything. A lot of diseases, we, I think I've talked to you about this that we were taught in school, were things we would never see, we see very commonly now, which I think has to be environmental of some sort, really, because most people I would say now are taking better care of their pets, and in very conscious of nutrition. And

Sheri Davidson: 21:44

so the things that you saw when you were in vet school were uncommon. And now they're very common, like, like diabetes. And yeah, so that school just like a specialty

Ashley Woods: 21:55

practice, we see more of the outlier. So when a veterinarian says to you, hey, you need to see a specialist. It's more because it's something that we haven't seen very commonly. And a specialist typically sees those weird cases that are outliers. Now, you know, certain practices, I mean, at sunset, we see a ton of things, but a lot of that stuff is really common that we see. And I'll have friends who practice elsewhere, ask questions about stuff they see. They'll see him like once a year, but we see him all the time.

Sheri Davidson: 22:25

Interesting. And so you think it's more environmental? I think a lot of toxins like environmental toxins,

Ashley Woods: 22:32

I think there's just, you know, it's just like people, like we see a lot, you know, and maybe that were more part of it, we do more diagnostics now than we ever have done before. Really? You know, and maybe we're just more aware, but I definitely think that there's something, you know, we see a lot of cancers. Yeah. You know, a lot of odd endocrine disorders that weren't as common. Yeah. You know, it's always which one is which? Is it that there's more of this happening? Or is it that we do just diagnose more, and people are more aware of what's happening with their pets?

Sheri Davidson: 23:04

Which is probably a combination of all of them? Yeah.

Ashley Woods: 23:07

Because previously, people just fed their dog scraps. And yeah, you live till you live? Yeah. And

Sheri Davidson: 23:12

that's, and that's the other question I have around dog food. Like a big, hot topic. It's a hot topic. Yeah. Like, what do I feed my dog? And I know, recently, I don't know how I feel about this. I mean, I was vegan for a couple of years. But there was on social media, this vegan dog food that was going viral? And I don't I was like, I don't know. I don't know what to think about that.

Ashley Woods: 23:35

So traditionally, so if we look back at like, evolution, dogs are omnivores, just like a human. But obviously, humans can move on a vegan diet. We have tons and tons of allergies in dogs. So some dogs really with food allergies, the only diet that we've seen helps them really are like vegetarian daily. Those dogs have obviously been, you know, we don't just go say, Hey, start them on a vegetarian diet. But if you've done food testing, and you're allergic to, most of typically, if you have food allergy, it's to the protein. So chicken, turkey are big, big causes of food allergy. But if you're allergic to also like the filler, so potato, corn, like some most of the novel protein diets. So let's say we say that let's try rabbit. It's, it's paired with potato. But then if you have a potato allergy, what do we do? Yeah, so some they did start a vegetarian diet. I think when I first graduated, there was a vegetarian diet out there that was marketed. I just think not many dogs were on it. Interesting. So it's not it's not the worst thing if it's well balanced, you know, so we need to make sure that they're getting the protein from whatever report protein source. The problem is, with most of these new diets is they're not FDA regulated. So there isn't in that, you know, obviously, does FDA do a great job at everything they do. Not necessarily but the The thing is that then there's no research on it. Yeah. And that's what we've seen happen with gluten. Gluten free diets is until there's research that we don't know. The side effects.

Sheri Davidson: 25:10

Right, right. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. I was curious about that. So would you recommend and I know it's highly individualized, like, depending on the dog or the cat should not be?

Ashley Woods: 25:22

No cats are our primary, primarily carnivores. So they should actually, if you really want to feed your cat something novel, just feed them chicken. Yeah, they so cats, if they have a food allergy, it's to fish. Oh, typically, about 80% out of food allergies and fish, but they they would just if a cat was running wild, they would just eat mice. Yeah, you can just feed them chicken if you really want because they don't need any carbs. Interesting.

Sheri Davidson: 25:51

Yeah. Well, when I first heard about the vegan diets for dogs, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it, because I just don't have any knowledge on it. But so not talking about cats, but dogs, would you recommend? Generally speaking, they have a reason to be vegan,

Ashley Woods: 26:12

right? Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't just put them on a vegan diet. I mean, I, you know, even if you're a human, you should know what you're doing before. You're just like, Oh, I'm gonna be a vegan. Right.

Sheri Davidson: 26:22

So I would I, there are a lot of unhealthy vegans out there. There. Yeah, you can just eat chips. Yep, processed foods.

Ashley Woods: 26:29

You just you would find a veterinarian that seems open to having a dietary conversation with you. And that can be difficult, but they're out there.

Sheri Davidson: 26:37

Yeah, I can only imagine. I've run into quite a few vets that questioned what I did. Because I give I give him herbs. You know that?

Ashley Woods: 26:46

Yeah. It's things that are I mean, it's just again, like human traditional medicine, things that are outside of people's wheelhouse. Yeah, immediately scares them. And I would say, you know, with you like, obviously, you know, the herbs. Yeah. And there are plenty of acupuncturist that practice animal medicine and are also certified in in herbs. So we obviously give them to animals. Yeah, yeah. And they work really well. I mean, if you can take it, I mean, it's just like your kid, if I can take it, and I'm okay with it, then I can give it to my children. But I'll try it on myself.

Sheri Davidson: 27:21

Well, I know that I don't know about in other states, but I know our other cities, I know in Houston, the practices here that do acupuncture and the chiropractic, they're booked for months, it is so hard to get

Ashley Woods: 27:37

out there, there aren't a lot and there aren't enough the issue or people who are certified, end up not practicing for whatever reason, or most of a lot of them are in traditional practices. And that's something that they do, but then you get overwhelmed with regular day to day because an acupuncture appointment is going to be a lot longer than just here's your vaccine. Yeah. And that's kind of the issue. So

Sheri Davidson: 28:05

well, the place I take him to, I think that's all they do. They do the acupuncture and chiropractic and the aqua therapy, but it's the chiropractic rehabilitation center. But yeah, it is so hard to get an appointment with them. Because once you

Ashley Woods: 28:20

I think once you go, you're like Okay, does work. Yeah. And so then you're gonna keep going, but yet, they become every dog goes after. So I'm gonna always take my dogs. We you

Sheri Davidson: 28:31

know, it was funny. He said this was during COVID. Well, it was after shutting or locked down. But I had to sit in my car and wait on Him. And He they brought him out. And they put him in the car. And he had just had acupuncture. He did chiropractic, and he did aqua therapy. He did all of it in one, like, I think I was there for three hours. I was I was I was waiting for a very long time. But he came out and they put him in the car and he smelled like lavender. And I was like You're such my dog

Ashley Woods: 29:02

document. All that. Well, they typically use lavender or Rescue Remedy to help calm before they do the acupuncture appointment. Because I mean, obviously we don't want to sedate you because that's not going to work. So some animals aren't great acupuncture patients, but there's other options too. Yeah, like what? So you could do chiropractic care, there are massage, massage therapists, water therapy. So most of these places do a ton of stuff. And then honestly, if you just can't do anything the dogs doesn't want you to touch them at all. You know, there's Earth therapy.

Sheri Davidson: 29:37

Yeah, they they actually use a line that that I'm familiar with. I have a few of their formulas here it was they did help concern. But

Ashley Woods: 29:48

yeah, yeah, most of the herbs are still the same stuff like that. I mean, just like human, I mean, just like a regular medicine that we use, like Western medicine at the practice. It's all human medicine. They just We switch out like dosage gene.

Sheri Davidson: 30:02

So do you guys do any of that at sunset? So the only

Ashley Woods: 30:05

thing we use at sunset is union bio. Oh, really? Leaving? Yes. Because it works. And so even even traditional, like, internal medicine, surgery doctors, they use union bio. So it will at some point people were stopped be start being more open. They know that that works. But we don't have any like, otherwise alternative medicine there.

Sheri Davidson: 30:28

So I wonder what how they got introduced to Yunnan? baiyao?

Ashley Woods: 30:32

I'm not sure. At sunset if it was. I think it was me.

Sheri Davidson: 30:36

Was it you? Yeah. Because it is really in so do you guys use it internally? Or do you use the powder? We

Ashley Woods: 30:43

do? Both? You do? Both? It depends on what's happening. So and I actually have a funny story because one of the doctors had a dog who was shot and he couldn't get it to stop bleeding. He was like pouring hold the unit by Yeah, like everything in to try to stop it. Yeah. But I think that he may have given a really, like opened up the capsule next time and do it topically, but you can use it both ways. Yeah, the same way. Yeah.

Sheri Davidson: 31:05

Wow. Well, you know that if I remember correctly, that formula was made? I don't know, obviously, 1000s of years ago, but it was used in war. Yeah. And they would pack wounds with the

Ashley Woods: 31:17

union by Jasco. Fighting. Yeah. And you know, where do you guys get your union bile from? So the medical director buys it. I have had that conversation with her that if she's just buying on Amazon, that's not ideal, because we want to know where herbs are coming from. Yeah. But there is so the big one of the bigger schools. So there's only two schools really in the United States for acupuncture with pets. And then there's a whole institute in Florida. That's where I went to and then associated with University of Colorado. And so in Florida, they actually have their own herbal shop. And so the doctors he is from China, and he sources the herbs from China. Really. That's really cool. Yeah, it's it's better so I can order those online. Actually. Really?

Sheri Davidson: 32:05

That's awesome. Well, I know you sent me because Finn has the fatty. Like Lycoming lipomas. Yeah. And so I think you sent me bulging tongue. Oh,

Ashley Woods: 32:15

yeah. Yeah, I have to. Yeah, cuz I haven't. I haven't ebook. Yeah. On my phone.

Sheri Davidson: 32:20

I think you said that. I gave it to him for a while, or actually, I think I had it made. And then, uh, now I have him like on a kidney formula, like, Louis de Haan lon, is what I have him on right now. But I need to put him back on the phlegm. dampness inflamed.

Ashley Woods: 32:36

Yeah. Well,

Sheri Davidson: 32:37

I love it that I can talk to you about this.

Ashley Woods: 32:40

Once they start one lymphoma, I felt like they can tell you. Yeah, it's just, it's breed specific. And then it's certain dogs, they just silabs love them labs. I think he's got webbing, they love. It's just something with them. But some of it is also that also goes back to you know, weight. If you're a little bit chubby, they tend to get like, almost

Sheri Davidson: 33:00

Yeah, I'm trying to get him to lose a little weight. But you know, he can't run his Mac. So, so what is the most common lifestyle condition that you see related condition that you see,

Ashley Woods: 33:13

I would probably say overweight, overweight, overfeeding and overweight. Yeah, so and then that leads to things like pancreatitis. You know, food is love with humans. And so people love to feed their pets, and they have a tendency to think, Oh, they're skinny. And it's like, no, they're supposed to look like that. You're supposed to have a little tuck. If I can see a little bit of your rib. That's okay. Yeah, it's the coverage over, you know, the back. So making sure I can't feel your spine and the coverage over the hips.

Sheri Davidson: 33:38

So what would be a good way? If you could describe it? On the podcast? A good way for someone to assess their dog?

Ashley Woods: 33:47

Wait, wait. Yeah. So if you're looking at your dog from behind, if their head looks tiny compared to the rest of their body, they're too too big. Yeah, the hard thing with that is some dogs do have wider chests. And so that can make them look wider. So you also want to make sure they have a tuck. So basically, the way we used to draw women where they have a curve, and then it goes in, like it tucks at the waist is that we're gonna tuck set the waist and you're gonna have a little tuck there. And so when and then when you're touching up the ribs, you should be able to feel the ribs to, you know, with a little fat coverage. You don't have to poke through fat to get to it. Yeah. But you know, you can always talk to your vet to and make sure you know, most vets will have those conversations. If they think that they're Yeah, and a lot of dogs have gained a lot of weight during COVID Just like people that nobody was active in Houston it's hard to it's hot.

Sheri Davidson: 34:36

Yeah, yeah, it is. And that's a good question. I want to ask you about the Houston heat in your in your dog. I mean, cats most cat stay inside. I run him Are you still run him right when it gets to July August, September? I don't. I won't be more and he's still pants like, and he doesn't drink. Oh, you will not drink water when we're out there.

Ashley Woods: 34:59

Huh? I wonder if the humidity makes them feel hydrated?

Sheri Davidson: 35:03

That humidity? Yeah, I

Ashley Woods: 35:04

would say in the summertime, you know, early morning walks, yeah. late evening walks, you know, if you have to go out in the middle, they just let them go and, and come right back in. Because it's just we see a ton of heatstroke.

Sheri Davidson: 35:18

So what is that for our listeners? What are the signs of a heat stroke, so

Ashley Woods: 35:22

they're gonna start lagging while they're running or doing whatever their activity is, they tend to just pass out, dogs will just kind of lay down, they can't catch their breath. So continued panting and not even wanting to drink. And you can feel kind of on dog's ears or around their gums, dogs, average temperatures higher than ours. So that sometimes is not at it adequate to figure that out, but you can feel in their mouth and feel like if they're too hot. And if you look at their gums or their tongue if they're brick red, they're, they're way too hot. Yeah, so that brick red color. They should be a baby pink, sometimes a little bit. pinker when they're hot so

Sheri Davidson: 35:59

their gums and their tongue, but correct red is not good. Okay. And so I heard and I always do this with him that if they are overheated their paws are the best way to cool them off. Yes, yeah. So yeah, and water.

Ashley Woods: 36:11

So like room temperature water, you don't want them to be too cold or actually been spraying all their paw pads with alcohol will start to to cool them down faster, really? So you just spray with alcohol and alcohol. That's what we do. Yeah, that's the start of cooling temperatures that at the clinic. Interesting.

Sheri Davidson: 36:29

What do you think about those cooling vests? Oh, when they're outside? I haven't seen those. No,

Ashley Woods: 36:34

I mean, probably

Sheri Davidson: 36:35

Ruff Wear has has them. And I bought him one but I

Ashley Woods: 36:39

haven't tried it yet. Yeah. Is it for like when they're exercising? Yeah. Or just outside walking?

Sheri Davidson: 36:44

Yeah, seems like I haven't I got it last year. I didn't try it. I need to try it. This shirt just seems it's a thick coat. It seems heavy. And it just seems like it's supposed to be cooling. But it's this really thick jacket.

Ashley Woods: 36:56

bearing down coat outside right now. It may in some ways protect because Yeah. So people you don't really need it does feel like against what we think because I'm not going to walk outside in a fur coat. But their coat also does help protect them. So there's a reason for having a coat. And that's why they dogs know to shed. And there's a portion of that that protects against son. So there that's a barrier. But it'll be interesting to see what the vest does.

Sheri Davidson: 37:22

Yeah, I'm going to try to share because he it's hot out there now. It's very hot. And I still like to take him on the trails. Yes, he's so happy out there.

Ashley Woods: 37:33

Nice ish in the morning.

Sheri Davidson: 37:37

Well, that's usually when we go. So um, so yeah, I'll let you know how

Ashley Woods: 37:43

I like it. Maybe I wouldn't mind a clean bus.

Sheri Davidson: 37:48

Walk around Houston. looking crazy, but it would fit. That's right, you just go inside because we keep it so cold inside during the summer. It's too cold.

Ashley Woods: 37:58

Yeah.

Sheri Davidson: 37:59

So what other wellness tips do you have for people.

Ashley Woods: 38:05

So I would say just make sure you you keep up with at least yearly visits, most clinics do want you to come in every six months. Some people don't want to do that. And that's you know, it's it's hard to get yourself into a doctor. So I understand you know, schedules but at least yearly. And if you can start doing bloodwork yearly, you don't do it at one or two necessarily. But I would say by at least three do yearly bloodwork because what that does is gives us a marker. So even though even if it comes back with everything normal, it's not a reason to say I wasted my money. That gives us a marker. So let's say at eight all of a sudden, something's wrong. We have something to compare to you to know what was there their regular, so Oh, maybe this is something we need to monitor, you know, kidney disease, liver disease, that's stuff that we can if we're ahead of the game, we can fix heart disease. If we're you know, diagnosing earlier, they can live longer, you know versus us diagnosing when you're already in congestive heart failure. Right, then we don't buy you as much time. Right. So

Sheri Davidson: 39:06

a blood test six months, or yearly. Yeah.

Ashley Woods: 39:10

And just in an exam. Yeah, there's a lot that can be found on physical exam. Yeah,

Sheri Davidson: 39:14

yeah. And what age are they considered?

Ashley Woods: 39:20

geriatric? It depends. Yeah, it depends on the breed. So giants giant breeds, so massives Great Danes, they're typically geriatric around five. Because those lifespans of those dogs typically is seven to 10. You know, we see a lot more older dogs that otherwise wouldn't be living that long, but smaller breeds of your Chihuahua or a Shih Tzu or something like that. They're typically we see 15 year old like Yorkies now, so those can live till they're like 18. It just really depends on the dog. Little mixed breeds like Finn typically live longer too. You? Oh, yes, thank you because they're not genetically as not nicely saying this but as messed up as you know something that's purebred, so they're not getting all of the inbred disease.

Sheri Davidson: 40:10

Yeah, I've heard that. I've heard that rescues tend to be healthier. Because they're not the purebreds.

Ashley Woods: 40:17

That's yeah, our rescue growing up, he lived till he was like 17. And my parents, I mean, they did their best, but that was before, you know, a dog was a dog. And he got neutered when he was like, 15. So, you know, they they do tend to do better.

Sheri Davidson: 40:33

Yeah, yeah. Well, I hope so. Because I look at him all the time. I'm like, Okay, you're pushing 11 We think. But he still has a ton of life and not 11 He doesn't seem 11 at all. He probably could see everything I wanted to ask you as they

Ashley Woods: 40:49

age. What about weight? So you, you still want to keep them smaller. So as they age of their exercise, you know, dwindles down, and you want to go to like, Let's do more short walks. So you may not be going on like the two miles. Right. But increasing like continuing to walk helps with long term with everything. Weight Gain. Yeah. Arthritis, because they're continuing to move. And I think it keeps them you know, moving in happy. Yeah. So you want to keep them going as long as they can. You just maybe have to decrease it some. Yeah.

Sheri Davidson: 41:19

We've decreased that, you know, his longest run was eight miles. That's still

Ashley Woods: 41:24

now No, oh, no. Oh, this really long though, even when he's he's so You're so short fan.

Sheri Davidson: 41:31

He did. He did eight miles out at Huntsville. And he was not ready to stop. Oh, yes. Like the kid in the back of the car sitting up falling asleep. Like, I don't want to go to sleep. It was super sweet. But we don't do that anymore. But we do go on walks. I try and take him out to the trolls on Sundays. And then we just do shorter walks during the week. But he hasn't had a flare up in a really long time. So he's doing one he's doing really well. He did have a little bit of a flare up maybe a month ago. But I have the meds. I know how to control it now. Yeah, before I was just freaking out all the time, because he's my firstborn.

Ashley Woods: 42:08

When they're your child, and you know, that's what I always tell everybody, you know your child. So you know when something's wrong and never feel concerned or frustrated when you go to the vet, like it's, it's a good thing to do. Even if you say oh, they come here and they're fine. But it's better to err on the side of caution than not. So when you know something's wrong, it's okay to go in. Yeah, even if like, Oh, we didn't really find anything. It's better to come in and to figure it out that something was really wrong. Because you waited a day, right? Yeah. Which

Sheri Davidson: 42:37

I will not to. But, you know, I think that when that initially happened, I I think he learned that was a it was scary for me. And then he every time he goes into an episode, it's almost like he thinks he's in trouble.

Ashley Woods: 42:55

Yeah, well, they you know, that's the hard thing. animals feed off our, our anxiety and so you know, just reassuring.

Sheri Davidson: 43:02

Yeah, I know. That's what I started doing. I'm a lot more calmer these days.

Ashley Woods: 43:08

It's, it's easy to panic. Yeah. Because you don't I mean, they can't say anything. No, I went hurts or that's the hardest. Like, they look at you and they look sad.

Sheri Davidson: 43:18

That tells tucked in there panting and they're not moving. And you're just like, Oh, my God.

Ashley Woods: 43:25

Yeah, no, no, but is going to judge you for being upset. I've seen all all shapes and sizes of people come in with an emergency. And I've definitely been that mom. I have like, drove with my dog shaking him out. He had a concussion. It's okay, basically, for the concussion. How many dogs that you have right now I only have one. So that's we lost our two oldest and the beginning of COVID. And then with two human animals we have been just need to wait but

Sheri Davidson: 43:59

well, they are responsibility. They should be

Ashley Woods: 44:02

they are they are responsibility there. I always say now there is more insurance options, but they are children without insurance. So they're very expensive. insurances is good. Most of them, don't. They the hard thing is it is different than human medicine. So you're still going to ask to pay upfront and the insurance company will reimburse you. But there are some insurance agencies that will pay you almost like direct deposit. Yeah. And that's what's the name of that? Insurance. I can't think it's something with a VA I can't think of it but that's they only do emergent care nationwide, is more along the lines of a human medicine. So they will cover wellness and emergencies really a portion of it. So there's a lot of good insurances out there. And it's nice to have when something happens and you're not prepared. Yeah, and it's not really expensive, is it? No, not if you I would say get it early. So if you had a puppy like go look into it it, if you're trying to ensure like eight year old Mastiff, it's going to be higher.

Sheri Davidson: 45:05

Yeah. Yeah, I've looked at it for him. And I think it was at the time when I looked at it, I think it was $80 a month, which is not a lot. But if you're not using it if you're not using it, yeah.

Ashley Woods: 45:19

I mean, in that, you know, 50 to $80. It doesn't seem like a lot till it is. I mean,

Sheri Davidson: 45:25

but when something happens in it, yeah. Well, and

Ashley Woods: 45:27

I learned that with my first dog, you know, the other dogs, I probably would have never insured. But he had an major emergency every year. And I had no money. So he was just he had a credit card.

Sheri Davidson: 45:39

things we do for our dog.

Ashley Woods: 45:40

Well, what am I going to do? You're my kid. I decided to take the responsibility. Now. I know why my mom said don't get a dog.

Sheri Davidson: 45:46

But yeah. Well, I didn't get my first dog until my 30s. I think it's in my 30s or my early 40s. When I think it was my late 30s I finally got a dog. Because I had a cat before that. But just responsibilities. I was never home. And I always lived in an apartment. And it was like,

Ashley Woods: 46:08

yeah, why? Yeah. Well, and cats are easy. They're easy. You can leave. Yeah, you know, if you've traveled a lot, and all of those things. Yeah. You know, it's hard with a dog. But

Sheri Davidson: 46:18

yeah, well, my Cat Jack was like a dog. But he he he was with me for 17 years. That's great. Yeah. It was sad, sad day. Okay, what other lifestyle related conditions do you see besides overweight?

Ashley Woods: 46:33

So most of it has to do with humans interfering with their dogs. So some of the things we see, like we were talking about diets. So gluten free diet, their animals really don't have a gluten allergy. What people started touting that, as is that it helps without like, itching allergies. And so then gluten free became a huge thing. And there's still tons on the market. But we do know that that can lead to heart disease and dogs. We don't know what it is within the gluten free diet that causes that. But you know, it's unfortunately, it's humans trying to fix their health, their pets, and then we cause another issue. Yeah. So it's in diet is really sensitive for

Sheri Davidson: 47:14

most people. Sensitive a sensitive topic. Yes, yeah, just

Ashley Woods: 47:18

because, you know, most people want to do good for themselves. So they want to do good for their pets. And that's why they choose like a gluten free diet. But there are plenty of natural other options and good diets that have some gluten in it.

Sheri Davidson: 47:31

So gluten for putting a dog on a gluten free diet can raise the risk of

Ashley Woods: 47:36

heart disease. So we're seeing something called DCM in those dogs, so it's dilated cardiomyopathy. And I have diagnosed a few dogs with that, and the way they they help with that disease is by starting the monitoring, which is a supplement that's not in those diets. And some of it's reversible, sometimes it's not, but it's something that can cause heart failure in dogs. So wow, it's it's serious and we want to be aware, but you know, like I said, it's, it's sensitive. And so we you know, if you want to feed something, I just would say bring it up to your, your vet. And hopefully, they're a little more open minded, because there's always something else we can fix. There are there our dog nutritionists now, lots of people do home cooked diets, which are fine. There's a lot more options out there and resources to do in home cooked diets. There used to not be

Sheri Davidson: 48:29

resources, like companies that are supplying or providing the

Ashley Woods: 48:35

recipes recipe are wanting to do the recipe at home there are like farmer's dog. Yeah, so those are you know, home cooked sweet. That's very expensive. Yeah, but dogs like it. Yeah. So I would rather just make it all in a crock pot.

Sheri Davidson: 48:48

Yeah. So what do you what is different about the food that like was it farmhouse dog farmhouse dog would make for something that I might make for fun you know, like my nothing? Nothing. Yeah, so

Ashley Woods: 48:59

farmers are it's just about convenience. Yeah, so it's going to be nothing different than what you can do Yeah, there was a another similar food to farmer's dog that was adding a lot of herbs to their food so all or like different foods that we know that help like spice wise with inflammation, things like that. I don't I was getting dogs who actually were getting sick on that. Oh, really? And I have no idea what it was in the diet because my dogs definitely stolen fish and had you know, whatever herbs are on there for the curls but so there I again, I think in those senses if you really want to cook for your dog, then just cook for your dog. Yeah, because it's it's better for them if you're doing it. Well.

Sheri Davidson: 49:43

I cook for him. And I put tumeric and put some fish oil. I put Louis de hungwen in it. And then I put a couple of other herbal like for pain and spasms. Yeah But what would be if somebody was going to make the food or maybe even add it to a kibble and what are the top supplements you would?

Ashley Woods: 50:07

So Tumeric is good. Cinnamon is great as an anti inflammatory, really, just with cinnamon if you're going to use it, most of us aren't aware, but it is anticoagulant. So if your dog's gonna go under for surgery, you would want to stop the cinnamon beforehand, and then let the doctor know because we don't really want to use cinnamon in conjunction with an NSAID. But cinnamon works great, but I would say anything that you want to add, I mean, you just don't obviously want to add salt, pepper. You know, red pepper flakes, although some dogs eat spicy food and they do fine but most most of any herb or spice you're adding on is fairly safe. Okay, but I wouldn't add a ton of it just because it can cause upset stomach.

Sheri Davidson: 50:49

Um, what do you think is Fishel? A good thing? visuals. Fantastic.

Ashley Woods: 50:52

Yeah, so that works to dogs with allergies. I always recommend it dogs who have major shedding problems. I recommend it. Coconut oil works really well. Same way. Okay. And because all of this is anti inflammatory, so you want to just help break that inflammation? Because that's what causes allergies.

Sheri Davidson: 51:09

I need to let my mom know Yeah, and on the red skin you've met Abby right up and go so you know she's she wanted to be with my mom. She shows her birth chose her person. And it's super sweet watching them. But she's really bad allergies. Really bad all over her stomach.

Ashley Woods: 51:25

Yeah, it's a Houston's a hard place to live for everybody but especially for the animals. So bathing more often when they're having allergy players up so you can bathe two to three times a week you Houston is humid, so you're not going to dry them out. If you live in like Vegas or California do not bathe that often. Because you are going to dry the dogs out but bathing more often when they're having flare ups wiping their paws down when they come inside. helps remove all that pollen because we take a bath every day. Yeah, for some people take a bath every day, but you're getting the pollen off and they're not. There. There are a ton of, you know, options. You know, Western medicine wise for allergies. I try to do as much topical as I can. It's just hard and you have to be realistic. And if you're an owner, and the doctor tells you all this stuff, like wipe them down all the time and you're not going to do it. There's no shame. I had an allergy dog for 13 years. I did not treat him. I don't have time to give a dog about three times a week. Yeah, but just be you know, be honest. Yeah. Because it helps everyone figure out a plan that works for your dog if you're honest about it. Yeah. You know, and or you can go see an acupuncturist and there's a ton of options are wise. And acupuncture wise for dogs with allergies. Yeah, my mom's not gonna do that.

Sheri Davidson: 52:43

Know, acupuncture. Well, in part well, the acupuncture just because she'd have to travel to do that. Too far and bathing. It's just hard for her. Yeah, baby. Yeah. So some kind of wiper lotion would probably

Ashley Woods: 52:59

Yeah, and there are like little topical creams but wiping.

Sheri Davidson: 53:02

Yeah, yeah. You said wiping their paws. Yeah,

Ashley Woods: 53:05

that's where that's where they're touching all the grass and most of it is ragweed. I would say in Houston. It's there's a ton of ragweed, but there are allergy tests you can get.

Sheri Davidson: 53:15

Yeah. And if somebody was going to do an allergy test, would that be through like a binary and like you can,

Ashley Woods: 53:21

you can do a blood test. I usually recommend seeing a dermatologist and actually doing a skin test because that's really better. But if you're not going to do like allergy injections, it's a waste of your money. Just men just treat them because there's no I mean, if you Yeah, some people want to know what they're allergic to. Yeah, but if you're not

Sheri Davidson: 53:41

a dermatologist. I didn't know that.

Ashley Woods: 53:44

There's a specialty for everything. No, I know. I know. But it's yeah, it's hard and it's expensive. Yeah. My dogs to dermatologist in his lifetime. He was just allergic to the world. He needed a bubble.

Sheri Davidson: 54:00

He was allergic to the world. Wow. Well, I have to let my mom know that as she can at least wipe and maybe put the fish oil or the coconut oil and yeah, her in the zoo. Yeah. Dogs like it. Yeah,

Ashley Woods: 54:15

he loves it. It's greasy and smells bad.

Sheri Davidson: 54:17

But they love it. Like everything he poop. I'm like, Why do you eat poop? Like cat poop?

Ashley Woods: 54:23

Because it's high in protein and tastes good. Is that what it was called? Cat? crunchies Yeah, they love cat crunchy cat candy is disgusting. It's so

Sheri Davidson: 54:30

gross. Like, do we have a couple of feral cats that come around and poop in the flower beds and stuff? Eating great stuff. Oh, yeah. And then he'll come in and I'll just see his beard has has dirt in it. And I'm like, I know what you've been doing. Okay, well, any more tips of wellness that people can. Can

Ashley Woods: 54:54

you know, just find a vet that you're comfortable with? And then you know, I know it can be difficult with COVID It's hard to get into vet clinics. And it's hard. You know, there's, we've lost a ton of vets and vet techs to the pandemic. So people just got burnt out. And it's, it's a hard, it's a hard career. And you know, they're not. So just be kind when you go in, everybody's doing their best, but I would find someone that you really like and connect with, and then stay with them. It's like finding a pediatrician. You find that when you really like, and then you say,

Sheri Davidson: 55:27

Oh, you're not getting rid of us.

Ashley Woods: 55:29

There, I have clients who will find me. But and that's good, because we want to see, you want to establish that with your clients that I know you and I know what's going on in your life. And, you know, because then you feel comfortable when you come to see us and I feel comfortable seeing you, you know, it's it's easier to we don't have to go through the whole history every single time I see you. Yeah, yeah, you have that baseline to you. And you already know, you already know this. And then I also know when they're not feeling well, because yeah, if this is the first time ever meaning your pet, I don't know what their normal is. So I have to go off what you're saying to me. Right? But the more I see him, I say oh, okay, they don't feel good today.

Sheri Davidson: 56:07

Yeah, well, you're not getting rid of us. We are We are here to stay. So I have one more question before we before we end,

Ashley Woods: 56:15

yes. Shots vaccine.

Sheri Davidson: 56:18

What do you what are your recommendations? I know seems like there used to be rabies. And now there's like tons of other kind of other out Yeah, so what are your

Ashley Woods: 56:26

vaccines are based off lifestyle choices. So if you are a dog that lives in your yard and then goes in the house, and then that's it, you know, you can you can get by with just, you know, I would at least get a distemper Parvo combination when you're a puppy, but you can get by with just a rabies, yeah. But if you're a dog that goes to the dog park and then grooming and then goes to, you know, to daycare and all these different activities. If your dog's very social, I do recommend additional vaccines so distemper Parvo, rabies Bordetella, at the baseline,

Sheri Davidson: 56:57

is boarded. tillow is that the kennel kennel cough. So the hard

Ashley Woods: 57:01

thing with that is it only covers the most common viral kennel cough that we see there are tons of bacterial causes. So just because your dog is protected, doesn't mean I can't get it. And so they will sometimes get something. But we treat that with an antibiotic. If you you know, go do a lot of outside activities like thing they drink from water outside, I wouldn't recommend a leptospirosis, which is a bacteria that causes kidney and liver failure. And once they get it, it's very difficult for us to treat. We also can get it from them. So

Sheri Davidson: 57:32

did you know there was maybe I don't know if it was before? COVID? I think it might have been before maybe right after but there was something happening in Austin in the water.

Ashley Woods: 57:44

Oh, yeah. It's blue, green. Blue algae. Yeah. And there's nothing that I can do for that and nothing. That was so sad story. And it's hard because those are dogs who want to be active in water, you want to protect your pets, but, you know, it's that sort of thing. Like, do I live life, you know, we can't live in fear. But and then after that, you know, some places require other other vaccines like influenza is that's going to be based off your comfort, comfort and getting that vaccine vaccine. You know, I try to talk to all my clients about vaccines because I know people are hesitant to do a ton. I don't do a ton my dogs never had influenza vaccines, because once I got the third dog, we never went to dog parks because we couldn't, and I just wasn't super concerned about it. And so that's everyone's own concern. And you know, the way you want to vaccinate, you know, hopefully no one's going to fight you on that. But rabies is required by law. So if anything, get rabies, yeah, it protects your dog too. If you know something happened in Harris County, if your dog scratches someone, they treat it as a bite case. Really? Yes.

Sheri Davidson: 58:50

It's ridiculous. Really, if a dog scratches you, they treat it as a bite. So

Ashley Woods: 58:55

I've had dogs in rabies quarantine because they have scratched them buddy and got reported. I had no idea. I didn't either till I saw it. But you know, it just it just protects them and nobody wants their dogs and rabies quarantine. But, you know, after I would general vaccines are fine, you know, all of them are much safer than they used to be. In cats, we do not adjuvant vaccines. So we were used to see rabies sarcomas from the vaccine. We don't see that as often in cats because the vaccines are made safer.

Sheri Davidson: 59:30

Okay. And vaccines for cats are different. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we

Ashley Woods: 59:35

tried to do the non adjuvant and then otherwise there's only fvrcp which is basically the equivalent leukemia separate Okay, and then fvrcp is the equivalent of like feline distemper and feeling leukemia only give to cats who go outside or if you're going to have a you know, you'd like to foster bring cats with unknown history if you just bring cats in your house. Yeah, get a leukemia, but my cat doesn't have that. Yeah. She only gets a rabies now because she's around nobody. Yeah. So you know,

Sheri Davidson: 1:00:04

so I didn't even know dogs could get the flu.

Ashley Woods: 1:00:07

So the all the influenza vaccines came out, basically 10 years ago because we had a huge flu outbreak. And that actually because because the flu so gross and jumps, it's the only vaccine or only virus a lot other than COVID. Now all the corona viruses do it, but that we knew, like really just go from like animal to human to it can jump and transform between animals. Most viruses don't do that. Most animals all have their own viruses. But influenza came the big outbreak came actually from horses, their racing horses that were traveling with racing greyhounds and the Greyhounds got it, and then it spread. That was our first influenza outbreak.

Sheri Davidson: 1:00:48

And what does that look like? What are the signs and symptoms, same stuff as humans,

Ashley Woods: 1:00:51

so coughing, sneezing, then they'll start running a fever and just, you know, general lethargy. And until we had a whole bunch of cases, no one knew to test. You know, most of them were probably treated like a kennel cough. And, you know, so it came from a horse, that first one, the second one was a whole bunch of dogs at a dog show in Georgia. And then they all traveled across the country and started dog pandemic. It's been, it's been about eight years since the big outbreak, but most places are pretty good about getting people you know, like, if you're going to a big grooming or big boarding facility, most require that just to keep the dogs protected.

Sheri Davidson: 1:01:32

And I get that, you know, he got kennel cough. He went to the and he's not around. I didn't he doesn't know the dogs. Yeah, he's not around a bunch of dogs. But it was the grooming the groomers.

Ashley Woods: 1:01:43

Yeah, because the only thing is, is that what I mean, it's like, again, you know that one coffin kid and then everyone?

Sheri Davidson: 1:01:48

Yeah, everybody has it? Yeah. But he's, he's fine. So yeah, okay. Well, that's, that's great. Great advice. Thank you. So how do people find you if they want to find

Ashley Woods: 1:02:01

you? So I'm at sunset Animal Hospital, that's it's off 59. Close to the Olive Garden. My schedule is very weird. So because we're open seven days a week, I can be there almost any day. But I'm not as there as often on the weekends, but you can always call and get my schedule. And they can they can I do have appointments. So I see appointments on the weekdays that I'm there.

Sheri Davidson: 1:02:25

Okay. And hopefully soon you're gonna have another nonprofit,

Ashley Woods: 1:02:29

hopefully soon won't be opening something. It's just my making it all happen. Make it any place. Yeah. Our economy is great right now.

Sheri Davidson: 1:02:40

Yes, we're all feeling that. Well, I'll be excited when you do do that. And we will follow you there. Yeah. Will it be in the loop play? Yes. Yeah. Okay.

Ashley Woods: 1:02:51

So it'll be area. Well, close to us. Ideally.

Sheri Davidson: 1:02:55

Yeah, we like that. So super excited for you to do that. Thank you so much as thanks for having me, Dr. Woods. And whenever you do that, you'll have to come back. We'll talk about another new update. We'll do a new update. I love it. Well, thank you. Thank you. Bye bye. So what did you think? I really enjoyed our conversation about pet wellness, I learned a lot. Ashley gave us a lot of information on Pet Health and steps we can take to improve our pets health and wellness for a long and active life. They are our kiddos. One thing I found interesting in our conversation today was that obesity is the number one lifestyle related disease among dogs and cats leading to type two diabetes. The cause overfeeding and not enough exercise. actually did say that some breeds are genetically predisposed to type two diabetes, but most cases are due to overfeeding and not enough exercise. And this is interesting to me because it is also the number one lifestyle related disease of us. You guessed it, humans. So it makes sense. We are responsible for our dogs and cats. So of course, our lifestyle disease would reflect and them to because we're treating them the same as we treat ourselves very interesting. But it is very manageable. So the top things you can do for your pets wellness. One, find a vet that you like one that you connect with and one that you're comfortable with. Do a wellness checkup every six months to a year. Get bloodwork done when they're young. This gives your vet a baseline and when something does go wrong, they have some data to compare to. This allows your vet to stay ahead of the game for your pets optimal health and well being Seeing and I really appreciated what Ashley said about vaccinations. Dogs have to get the rabies vaccination, it is mandatory. There are also other vaccinations and athletes adjusted to choose the vaccines according to your dog's lifestyle. This makes so much sense to me. Another thing that you can do for your dog and cats or your pets wellness, is to feed them good nutrition. Just like us. It matters what you put in your body. But also be careful what you feed them. Although we're trying to take care of our pets the best way we know how people have been feeding their dogs, gluten free diets. And what they're finding is is set your dog up for heart disease. So if you have any questions, please talk to your vet. And as always one of my favorite topics, Exercise and Movement at every age. This can help manage weight gain arthritis and keep them just plain happy. You might have to decrease their activity as they get older. But don't stop moving. Also, dogs can benefit from taking supplements like tumeric and fish oil. I know we talked a little bit about herbs. But if you want to give your dog or pet herbs, I would talk to a practitioner of acupuncture and always tell your vet what they are taking. We also touched on insurance companies, some insurance companies will cover your pets for wellness. So I think looking into that, especially when they're younger, not so much when they're older. It does cost more as they get older. So check into it at a young age and see what you can find to help you stay on track with your pets wellness. And last but not least, your pet if needed, can do acupuncture, hydrotherapy, massage, chiropractic care, and herbs like we've already mentioned. And that's a recap and a wrap for this episode. I hope you really enjoyed it. And if you like what you hear, please subscribe to the podcast and share it with your friends and family. You can also give me a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcast. It helps others find me as well. To get updates on new episodes and wellness inspiration in your inbox, please join the wellness inspired community. Go to the wellness inspired podcast.com to sign up and I'll put the link to the website in the show notes. You can just click and sign up. Also there is a Facebook community at the Wellness inspired and you can follow me on Instagram at wellness underscore inspired. If you're in the Houston area or visiting and interested in acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping dry needling therapy, contact us. You can find out more on the website at element five oh m.com. That's element five, the number five oh m.com. And again, I'll put the link in the show notes. If you're interested in health and wellness coaching, we can connect in the clinic or on Zoom reach out to us and we'll get you on the schedule. As always, I would love to hear your feedback. I'm dedicated to bringing you great content that is inspiring, informative, with an artsy fun and edgy spin. Thank you so much for listening. We'll meet again here next time and never stop exploring, learning loving and being you bye