(bright music) - Hi, I'm Karen Kalunian, and today we're gonna be talking about puppy safety.
(bright music) Welcome in to another episode of "Animal Talk."
I'm your host, Karen Kalunian.
We're here with Dr. Elias from the Cranston Animal Hospital, and our boy Sonny, who's so shy, but you have to look at those eyes.
Look at how cute.
Such a good boy.
She's gonna tell us a little bit about what you should do if your puppy should get into something that it shouldn't.
Puppies love to eat their food and their treats, but what happens if they get into something that's hanging around the house that maybe you didn't think to pick up.
A kid's toy?
There's so many things that can happen.
So Doc, what's the first thing somebody should do if their puppy ingests something?
- The first thing is we'll try to get it outta their mouth without getting bitten yourself.
- Right.
- Before it goes down the hatch, like.
- Yes.
And then, if it's a product, I would make sure that you have the product information available, and then call your regular vet or an emergency facility.
If it's late at night or you can't get ahold of anyone, please call the Poison Control, ASPCA Poison Control.
They have a very huge database and are extremely helpful.
- I think that's a great point, because a lot of people wouldn't think to do that.
So we're gonna put that link in the bio and just, hopefully, that never happens to you.
But if you ever need that resource, we wanna make that available to you.
- Never induce vomiting without talking to a professional.
Depending upon the toxin that's ingested, we have different treatments for it.
So just consult a professional.
- I know sometimes people think the first thing to do is try to make them vomit like we would do with ourselves.
- Right.
- Yeah.
- And that's not the thing to do.
- No, that's not the thing to do.
Things can go terribly awry.
So just talk to a professional before you make any moves to treat your own pet.
- And for puppy food, because I know you and I were talking off camera a little bit about puppy food, I think people are so inclined, there's so many brands out there.
And, like you said, the science is not keeping up with the marketing for all of these new brands.
What do you suggest is the best diet for them, or good treats so that they can have some fun?
- Healthy treats are carrots, cucumbers, green beans.
You wanna stay away from grapes and raisins.
They're toxic to dogs.
But you can also, the one thing we recommend, is stay away from the grain-free diets and avoid those.
- That was a big thing at one point in time.
- It was.
- Everybody was put your pet grain-free, grain-free, grain-free.
- It was, and it's causing some cardiac problems in our younger dogs.
- Oh.
- So that, and we also recommend avoiding the raw food diets that can make your pet and your family susceptible to E.coli salmonella.
So, if you go on Tufts Veterinary Nutrition, they have some tool boxes that you can click on, and they can direct you to the best pet food for your pet.
- Well, there's nothing better than that.
We wanna make sure they have good stuff.
So maybe you'll be a baby carrot treat lover, right?
Sonny, he's such a good puppy, and you know, I think it's important for people to know that puppies do like to get into things.
So I tell kids, if you're gonna get a puppy, make sure your room is clean, number one.
Lots of little toys in kids' rooms.
And, you know, check the perimeter, because there's electrical cords, that you know, puppies wanna chew on things, they're getting their teeth.
And what else do you sort of tell people to navigate when they're looking through their homes to make sure things are clear?
- Yeah, mostly we don't want them to electrocute themselves by chewing on wires.
Socks are a bit thing.
- Socks!
That's a big thing.
- Diapers.
Anything - - Diapers, yes.
- that's in the trash.
- Things that you don't think of that they just wanna play with, and then the next thing you know, like I said, it ends up where it doesn't belong, obviously, in a puppy.
Well, Dr. Elias, thank you so much for coming in.
Dr. Elias from the Cranston Animal Hospital, with Sonny here at the heart of Rhode Island.
I'm your host, Karen Kalunian.
Please tune in to the next episode of "Animal Talk," for more tips, tricks, and treats.
To watch more videos like this, visit ripbs.org/animal talk.
(dog barks)