Dr. Cindy Maro: Mission of Cranberry Holistic Pet Care

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

And your host is sitting here thinking, how can it possibly be that Christmas is only a few days away. How does that happen? It is amazing. It's like one big day from Thanksgiving straight through to Christmas. It's like one day, it goes so fast. So I hope you are getting ready and enjoying your holiday season. Welcome, welcome to the show, everyone in the United States listening to the show and to those in other parts of the world. So, I want to mention them. We have listeners in Canada, China, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Poland, Japan. Can you believe this? The Ukraine. Oh, we're thinking about you all the time. Uh, Egypt, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, India, Brazil, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, Russia. It is amazing. So, I want to thank all of you listeners in the United States and around the world, especially countries where you have one listener. Like, there are countries that have one listener, unlike these other countries that have a lot of listeners, but you know what I say? One person in Saudi Arabia is one person that can make a difference. Do you know that? All you know, you can change lives. You can help people with disabilities in your own country. Tell them, if they are English-speaking or have translation, to go to Disability Matters with Joyce Bender on voiceamerica.com. Let me tell you, a disability is a disability no matter where you are in the world. Here I am living with epilepsy, and I know that a seizure in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Ukraine, Japan, wherever it is, is a seizure, period. So I care about you no matter where you are in the world. And my listeners in the United States, wow, you are such great, great listeners. If you were all here right now, I'd give everyone a big hug. You are— but my arms would have to grow. But you are all really wonderful people and listeners, and you've stayed with me And this is, yes, the end of, ready? The 20th year. How is that possible? We have been on the air for 20 years. 20! So we're getting ready for year 21 coming up here in just a few weeks. But I have to say, special shout out to Richard Roberts. My close friend, who will soon be visiting me, is with the State Department, and I'll be visiting him as he is on site in Brazil. And Gang Young Cho, who is in South Korea, and Cheryl Smith at the State Department in D.C. Oh, there are so many people. People I could mention, but I want to say how much the State Department has helped me change lives. I have been with them in Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, Panama, and now soon Brazil. And they are enabling me to go talk about that anyone with a disability can work and has dignity. And I really can't thank them enough for what they do. Special shout out to Yoshiko, Yoshiko Dart. You know how I love you, I have a big smile on my face. Yoshiko, who is married to the late Justin Dart Jr. Is still carrying the flag. She is still saying, "Lead on." She is always about nothing about us without us. She is my friend, and you all need to remember that I do this every show because I want you to remember that we have a history. People with disabilities have a history in America, and sadly, You know, we're not doing enough about it, but Justin Dart is so pivotal to the success of the ADA and civil rights for people with disabilities. So I'm going to make sure that you remember that when I talk about Yoshiko. And thank you, Highmark, another year sponsored as lead sponsor of this radio show. Highmark and already on to be the sponsor again for 2024. You know, what a wonderful, wonderful company. Thank you so much. Well, I, as you could probably tell on my social media, am very excited to have Dr. Morrow back today. She was on before, and if you missed it, you're going to love this show. And I just want to add, everyone loves pets. We all love our pets. So, you know, after you listen to this, you can feel free to share it. Tell people just to go to Spotify, voiceamerica.com, benderconsult.com, uh, Apple, almost every social media venue, and they can hear the show on demand. So if someone misses it, remember, they could still hear it if they miss it live. So, Dr. Morrow, welcome back to the show.

Oh, it's great to be here and to hear your voice.

Well, it's always a pleasure to have you on. Um, I, I want to say about Dr. Morrow that I have two Yorkies Jasmine and Buddy, 12 and 11. And Jasmine, who, I mean, she's in great shape, but I just want to tell you that many years ago, like maybe 7, she developed this problem where when she would walk forward, she almost fall down on her knees and would almost walk on her knees like it was terrible. I was devastated. I was so upset. And I went to this one vet, not to be named, that said, "Well, we don't know if this will change. I mean, you know, some people look at euthanasia." I said, "What? Never.

No.

I don't care if she would have to have a little wheelchair. Not gonna happen." And then someone told me about this Dr. Morrow. I'll never forget this day. I walked in and she was standing out there behind the— oh, hope I don't start crying here— in her area. I said, "Oh, Dr. Morrow, I'm so upset." And I was, I mean, I was crying. And she said, "Well, what's wrong?" And I told her this story about Jasmine. And she looked at me and guess what she says to me? "Well, what makes you think we can't help her?" And guess what? Help her. She never had that problem again. Never again. I will never forget that ever as long as I live. So I'm telling you, when I tell you this woman is phenomenal, take it from me, because, you know, our dogs are like kids with long hair. You love them so much. And she helped Jasmine. So I want to go on record for saying I endorse her 100%. So, Dr. Morrow, I get questions from people from those countries that you heard me read. They always are wanting to know more about the guest, you know, tell me more about the guest. And I know people probably ask you this all the time, so I'm going to add to that group. And ask you, what made you decide to become a vet, and when did you know that's definitely what I'm gonna do?

So, I grew up on a farm, and I was very fortunate to grow up in a large family and have animals all around, and many species of animals. So, everything from chickens and ducks and horses, cows, we raised pigs, and had mostly cattle as far as food animals, and most of this was a hobby farm, so there were also rabbits and pigeons, and my father did other things for a living, but I'm a middle-ish child, and my brother, who is 10 years older than I, is also a veterinarian, but he of course preceded me in vet school, and I had the great fortune of being able to work with him from toddler stage in the barns with the animals, and I knew that I loved him and I loved those animals, and he taught me so many life lessons. So I think I'm going to cover one of your questions you told me you would ask me later, in that he is a role model for me, and he taught me so much about life through the animals and about how to be a better person and healing and connection and opening your heart and having a vision and having hope. And like you already mentioned with your own dog, having that hope is always a great thing. I always hope for miracles with what might be considered a hopeless case, and I don't consider anything hopeless that I treat because hope can be found in any outcome, even if— none of us live forever, but the way that we approach the finite bodily life, it can make a huge difference in how we perceive the world. And though our bodies are not forever, the love that we share— the spirit, the soul, whatever you want to call it— is definitely enduring and lasting. And I, in my opinion, love is the only real thing that there is, and we can all love and open our hearts, and that's what healing is about. So I got to observe lots of that when working with Dr. Robert Morrow, Rob Morrow, and he practices in Ohio, and he still is very active in his practice life and opens his heart and his appointment schedule 7 days a week, even in the evenings, and he's one of the few large animal vets in his region who's still going out doing emergency calls after hours and on weekends. And he's quite, quite well-known, and he also practices like I do, although I preceded him in my integrative veterinary medicine education and quest and integration of many modalities. So I decided that I really loved being able to help heal, but loved more the lessons that animals teach us because they're so non-judgmental. And I think this is a fitting commentary given the show that you're presenting with Disability Matters because it is solely judgment, both of self and judgment by others, that can make a difference. And the lack of judgment and the lack of setting preconceived ideas about not just health and healing, but also the outward appearance or outward presentation of the animal or of the human. All that makes a difference and can give us hope and health and happiness and that feeling of love and connectedness. So the animals taught me a lot about that, but I really credit my brother for his great observations about animals and all of his collections of animals and teaching me about husbandry and caring for them in sickness and in health as being really instrumental in my decision to become a veterinarian. So, by the time I was 9, I had pretty much decided that I wanted to be a vet, but there were several other career options that I investigated through high school and college because I had that thing in the back of my mind that said, "Well, do you want to be a vet just because your role model is a vet, or do you want to be a vet because you want to be a vet?" So, I did investigate the medical profession, and I worked in a medical facility and worked in some research and in different fields as I was going through high school and undergrad and even vet school. But I am glad for the decision that I made and really never looked back and, you know, went to vet school and then continued my education in veterinary medicine beyond veterinary college to practice integrative care. And that's sort of where Jasmine comes into the story, and integrative veterinary medicine— taking ancient healing modalities with a modern twist and integrating them into a vet practice— gives so many extra options for the care and healing and happiness and quality of life for animals who, like Jasmine, may be disabled because in Jasmine's case, she had Chiari-like syndrome as a diagnosis, which was affecting her neurologically, affecting her spinal column and her brainstem, and there's not just a one-size-fits-all for treatments and therapies, so alternative medicine was very effective gratitude for getting her back on her feet, literally.

Yeah, she stayed on her feet too. She— well, you know, I am sold. So, um, and by the way, that was also beautiful. I too believe, uh, that you may not be here physically, but you're still— your soul continues on. It's not that that's the end. I, I agree with you. I believe that 100%. Uh, but before I go any further, I wanted you to just take a minute— where the name of your office is and where they're located— so that— I forgot the last time, and then people want to know, so let's do that now to make sure listeners know if they're in the Pittsburgh area? Where are your offices?

So I practice primarily now at the Cranberry Holistic Pet Care facility in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. And interestingly, Cranberry— it is two towns about an hour and a half apart in western PA, and I practice in the Cranberry Township that is near Wexford and Zillionopole, kind of sandwiched between the two areas, Cranberry Township. And I also have a practice at Elwood Animal Hospital in Elwood City, Pennsylvania, which is a bit north and west of where I am in Cranberry. So I'm speaking to you today from the Cranberry Township location, and that's the location that I see most of my patients from.

And what is the name of your, uh, office? Your vet— what's the name of it?

So, holistic, holistic pet care. And then there's Ellwood Animal Hospital, and Ellwood is spelled with two L's. E-L-L-W-O-O-D Animal Hospital.

Okay. And is there a website that they could go to, for example, for your Cranberry location?

Oh my goodness, there is. And this will sound terrible because I don't know how— I don't know the name of the website. I know— this is bad. I know that we have Facebook pages for both offices, so you can find them easily on through the Facebook page. And I am sure you can get them from a Google search for the two websites, but yes, we do have websites for both the Cranberry office and, um, let me see if I can pull it up real quick. It's one of those saved and tabbed things here, so, uh, I will tell you in just a moment. The website for Cranberry Holistic Pet Care is cranberryholisticvetcare.com. Cranberryholisticvet.com. And for the Elwood Animal Hospital, I believe— yes, it's Elwood Vet, E-L-L-W-O-O-D-V-E-T, V as in Victor, elwoodvet.com. So, those are the two websites.

Okay, that's good. And As you also said, you're on Facebook, so they could also find you on Facebook. Yeah. You know, as I said before, if you want to go to a doctor that really cares and that is so successful and will help you, this is where to go. So you have all these offices, you have been so successful. I did have a question I didn't ask you before. Here you are, a female entrepreneur, and I wish I could say that, you know, that's easy to find all these successful female entrepreneurs, but it isn't. And I wanted to ask you, why do you believe you've been successful?

Well, the biggest two answers are My clients and my staff have been fabulous in supporting what I do, especially my staff team members. I have had many team members who've been with me for well over a decade, and a couple of my staff members are— one's 26 years with me. And when you have supportive staff who share the mission of caring for the animals in an integrative approach, it's really beneficial for everybody involved, so great team. And the other part of it is the, the constant drive for looking for options for patients who don't have options. And when the Western veterinary medicine world said there's no treatment for this, that was the impetus for me to learn more, because if— my theory has always been, if you have a patient who's well one day and begins becoming ill and presents to the veterinary office, and this goes for humans as well, there was something that changed along that path, and it changed first on a cellular level, and then it becomes apparent to— in the vet world, it comes apparent— it becomes apparent to the owners of that pet, or guardians, if you will, and When it becomes apparent, that isn't the day the illness began. So, uh, the immune system is very involved in the generation of many illnesses, uh, whether it's cancer or true autoimmune disorders, but even things like chronic headaches and other chronic syndromes, any chronic illness, uh, that doesn't just get better with a dose of antibiotics, uh, really has altering effects on the entire immune system and sometimes nervous system. So, all those chemical signals that our body fires up all the time, when they start going awry, oftentimes we suppress those symptoms in the Western world and we don't listen to our bodies. And when we suppress enough of those symptoms, the body starts rebelling in a bigger way because we are not paying attention. And whether this is humans or animals, emotional situations, mental situations that go against what the drive is for that person or animal's passion and purpose, those kinds of things can lead to chronic illnesses. Now, certainly nutrition is a huge part of the body's responses that say, "Hey, this isn't good," but oftentimes, well, We uh, are taught in the Western world that if you have something that hurts, take a pill rather than look at your diet, exercise, and daily habits, including the people we surround ourselves with and the situations we surround ourselves with. And all of those have a huge impact on body health. So, looking at all those things together and integrating other forms of medicine, including clinical nutrition, is really really super beneficial to reestablishing health, but it becomes more difficult the longer we suppress symptoms or ignore them, whether it's for our pets or for ourselves.

Wow, good advice. That is very, very good advice. And when I, when I was talking to someone earlier today about, you know, your holistic medicine they really didn't understand what I was talking about. And I find frequently people think like, what is this, some type of magic type thing or what? It's really not medicine. I said, no, that is incorrect. But I will ask you to explain to our listeners what holistic medicine is.

So holistic or integrative medicine— and I prefer to call it integrative because I have people who come into my office who say, I only want a homeopathic remedy. Well, I have to tell you something. If I get hit by a car and the paramedics arrive and I say, "I just want you to give me a homeopathic tincture and see if I get better by next week," but I'm bleeding out, I certainly do not want that. I want emergency drugs and I want to live long enough that the homeopathic and acupuncture and herbal medicine that I need for the chronic healing process can be introduced because If I don't make it through that crisis, or if my patients don't make it through the crisis, there's no homeopathic remedy that's going to completely save me. It does not mean I don't do any homeopathy for my emergency patients. It just means that I integrate Western and Eastern and herbal medicine as well as homeopathy. And homeopathy is its own branch of medicine separate from herbology, where we use herbs. So, what we do is we look at the whole body and on the whole being, and that means the emotional aspects or spiritual aspects of that patient, and I'm not talking about religion here, I'm talking about what drives that patient from the very soul or heart of the person or animal. And what we do is we look at that balance, so we look at nutrition, environment, living arrangement, pack behavior. If you have a dog, you are part of that pack. If you are constantly stressed and anxious, guess what? The pack leader being stressed and anxious means danger. That means that animal that lives with you feels it's in danger and it's under constant stress. If you burn the midnight oil, that isn't normal pack behavior for a dog to be constantly up late at night. And we start telling the brain of that animal, just like the brain of the human, that there's danger. If you have a lot of electromagnetic frequencies and electronic devices constantly on in your home— and most people do now— that can impact the patient's perception of vibrational frequencies at the nervous system level and cause a a lot of anxiety, and we see a lot of patient pets that are having separation anxiety and other anxiety disorders, including self-trauma. So integrative medicine looks at all of those things and looks to establish a peaceful environment, management of stress issues, and judicious use of Western medicines and vaccines. And when I say judicious use, I mean, instead of over-immunizing, one example would be that I take titer tests to see when vaccines are actually due and wise to give to the patient because hyperimmunization, meaning giving vaccines when the body's already made a huge response, is not wise. I'll give you an example. I was vaccinated for rabies virus when I was a veterinary student and I ended up on my booster shot having a reaction and lost some ability to make a fist with my right hand, and I had some nerve pain. And even 18 years after that immunization, I had a possible rabies exposure, so I got my titer test, and it was still 1,800 times the protective level. Even though it was advised for me to get a booster shot because of potential rabies exposure. I chose not to with the informed— or with the information that I had very high protective immunity as a result of my immunization, and I had a lot of risk involved with getting a booster shot. So, I chose not to get that booster vaccine, and I am still alive. I don't tell people to just I don't skip vaccines because I am here as a veterinarian to protect both human and animal lives, and, uh, there's a reason why rabies vaccines are recommended. And all vaccines are not injurious if we use them wisely and we consider all of the patient's risk factors. But excessive use of immunizations can be injurious. So, I look at all of those factors. When I'm looking at integrating medicines. And I do integrate acupuncture into my practice. I do ozone therapy. I do physical therapy and massage, and I have underwater treadmills in my clinic for rehabilitative therapies. I do integrative oncology or cancer treatments for patients, and Chinese herbology, if I didn't mention that. And I have done Reiki certification and craniosacral therapies, and I integrate those in treating all of my patients. And of course, I didn't mention chiropractic care also.

Well, yes, I know you do that. Well, we had that done, but I like how you explained that at the beginning about, you know, if you were hit by a car You would not tell the paramedics, you know, just give me some oil or something, supplement or something like that. You would want your life saved. I don't think people understand that. And how I look at it as a veterinarian office that offers even more. That's how I look at it. And sure. And I'm just so happy that we have you here to help all of us.

Thank you. Yeah, I'll also give another example. I treat a lot of vector-borne diseases, including Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Babesia, all these types of chronic illnesses that pets can get. And they can have acute Lyme disease, which can cause kidney failure. But I see a lot of patients who may have been treated but had a reaction to the antibiotics and went off their treatment. Now, the Lyme organism, The body's still being affected. The immune system will still be affected in a negative way by these vector-borne diseases or tick illnesses. And a lot of people have been affected also. And I feel it's really important to be able to offer those pets and the owners some other types of treatments. And so, there are Chinese herbs that I use and sometimes acupuncture along with it, but there are There are also some Western herbs that I employ, and I pick and choose based on what the patient can tolerate, but one of the really great and successful treatments that I've integrated is ozone therapy, including IV ozone therapy. And I have a treatment device called an Inovarius Sanawave, S-A-N-A-W-A-V-E, which really helps when I use it along with IV ozone therapy. In these patients with chronic vector-borne disorders, including Lyme disease. And it's just so great to be able to go to the toolbox and instead of just finding a screwdriver, to find a complete complement of tools. And some of those tools work better for some jobs and some for others. And I kind of consider that I have a bigger toolbox than I came out of veterinary school with and more ability to pick and choose.

Yeah, that's a great way to describe it. That is, and of course, as I mentioned to you, we've had many pets or dogs in our offices because of people that work for me who are blind and have a service dog. And once again, they are like part of our family. But with that, I know— They're wonderful.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I said they're wonderful.

They are, and I mean, it's more than part of the family. It's the person's ability. If someone has a disability or they're other-abled, as some people will say, if that's the case and you're blind, you're deaf, you have a seizure disorder, I find it is imperative to have that animal and extending The length of life, as well as quality of life, is super important for somebody who has a service animal that is an integral part of their day-to-day functions, because it's really hard to replace that employee, if you will, when an animal is helping with day-to-day activities in such a big way. So, I find it just really important to make sure that those animals that go beyond being pets and part of the family to the lifeline for a human. You know, it's so important for us to maintain their wellness and their quality of life so that, you know, the person gets the maximum use from their companion to, you know, get through their days.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, everyone, it is time for the news on the half hour. Uh, and that means it's time for us to hear from our news anchor, Perry Jude Radesik. Are you with us, Perry?

I am, Joyce. It's good to be here.

So Perry, what news do you have for us today?

Uh, President Biden had appointed Dante Quinton Allen, uh, to the position of Commissioner of the Department of Education Rehabilitation Services. Now, before Mr. Allen takes over at that department, he has to be confirmed by the Senate. So earlier this month, the U.S. Senate officially confirmed Dante Allen's appointment as the RSA administrator over at— or commissioner over at the Department of Education. You know, it's always a vigorous vetting process that you have to go through to be evaluated by the Senate Judiciary Committee and then confirmed by the Senate. But he, he has an impressive background in public service. He has served as the executive director of CalABLE, which is California's qualified federal ABLE savings program for people with Disabilities. Mr. Allen also led CalABLE since its launch in 2018. Prior to that, he served as a communications professional in public and private sectors. And I have two examples of that. One is the California Department of Public Health, Office of Health Equity. And then also a communications professional at Kaiser Permanente. Alan is a person with a disability and a staunch proponent of disability rights and equity. So what is RSA? So the Rehabilitation Services Administration is known to many advocates and probably a lot of your listeners, Joyce. It's a federal agency over at the Department of Education. Its primary purpose is to provide leadership and resources to state and other agencies to support individuals with disabilities in achieving employment. Now, RSA does a lot of other things, but that's really its primary purpose. So what RSA does is they work collaboratively with state vocational rehabilitation agencies, and many of us know about our VR agencies in our state, and so RSA works with our state VR agencies to make sure they provide vocational counseling, job training, job placement, assistive technology, and any other supports to obtain or maintain employment. We know advocacy matters, and many of us know that RSA plays a very crucial role in making sure people with disabilities get employment in the United states. So it's important for us as advocates to know who's leading RSA and how RSA creates those opportunities for people with disabilities to get employment. Now, if you want more information about Dante Allen and the Rehabilitation Services Administration, here's what you do. You go to disabilityrightspa.org That's disabilityrightspa.org. Click on our Advocacy Matters segment for today. You can find that on our homepage about halfway down, and there you'll find links to his information and links to RSA if you want to know more about RSA and haven't been introduced to them previously, Joyce.

Well, I would encourage everyone to go to the website. It's— go to Advocacy Matters to read more about this. And Perry, you're going to keep us in tune with that, right?

Absolutely.

Well, Perry, it is a pleasure to have you with us again. That's disabilityrightspa.org. Advocacy Matters, and we'll talk to you next week.

Thanks, Joyce.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. So, Dr. Morrow, I wanted to ask you about Christmas and New Year's holidays. What are some things listeners should be concerned about for their pets, such as food, traveling, stress? What, what, what are some things that you think they should be concerned about?

Well, for the average pet, stress increases with whether you're traveling and going to another home with your pet, boarding your pet— and I'm seeing less and less boarding and more traveling with pets— and traveling to other homes. It's really important, first and foremost, if you want to reduce your pet's stress, to you yourself become less anxious about the whole process. And Learn to work with a behaviorist on getting your pet to be comfortable being independent and away from you. Many people with anxious, stressed-out pets and those with separation anxiety actually feed into separation anxiety, thereby increasing the stress over time. And one of the ways that I see this most often in my own office is when I go into an exam room, and immediately when the pet wants to get up and walk across the room, the owner guards the pet with their hands. And when I point out to the pet guardian that they are actually reinforcing their pet's fear by telling them, "Don't approach," they will often catch themselves, and nobody has pointed this out. So, the whole goal of behavioral training is to retrain patterns the human is putting forth that are increasing the pet's stress. And I am not implying or saying that all owners do this, but most of the time, parents and pet owners are unaware of how they reinforce fear or actually train children and animals to be fearful in different settings. Having said that, when a pet does have anxiety about travel, about noise, and sometimes that anxiety is not outwardly seen. Sometimes, you know, it's seen days later when the pet has blood in their feces or stool or some stress colitis symptoms, or for cats, cystitis, urinating inappropriately out of the box, having blood in the urine, straining to urinate. Those kinds of stress things are internalized stresses with gastrointestinal upset, cystitis or bladder inflammation, you know, colitis. Those are some of the symptoms that may be displayed for an animal who internalizes their stress. Things like elevated heart rate and respiratory rate or yawning behavior for a dog, that may be ways to display, "Hey, there's too many people around. The little kids in this home that we're visiting are making me stressed. I want to be obedient, but I don't know what to do." And so, They'll sometimes do a lot of yawning as little kids are approaching, and we don't want to put any of the humans in a dangerous situation. We also want to consider, if you see your dog doing that, go online, look up signs of stress that may be less apparent. If your pet is, is easily stressed, there are many things that conventionally trained veterinarians can offer, but Chinese medicine and alternative therapies are wonderful to help reduce stress Sometimes I send my pet owners with essential oils of high-quality, medicinal quality to diffuse in the hotel room or in the home. I also use herbs and nutrients that have a calming effect. I have some products that I find to be very high-quality, CBD with CBG. There's no THC, so it's not marijuana, and it doesn't require any special license to get it, but some products work way better than others. Some of the medicinal mushrooms can have calming effects for both dogs and cats, especially the reishi species. But please be aware, anything you're buying online may or may not have medicinal quality, and it may or may not have any true medical effect because there are a lot of mushrooms that are used in products, but they don't have high mycelial activity, and the part of the mushroom, how it's raised, is important. So people are buying a lot of these products without good advisement and just choosing things online, and I happen to know of independent studies that probably will never be published anywhere where the public will see them, where, like, of the top 10 calming mushroom products that are on the market being sold on the internet, only one of them has levels high enough to be truly medicinal. They may have some nutritional quality, but as far as neurologic and brain and immune effects, they may be lacking. So a veterinarian with integrative training and clinical nutrition training will be better able to advise owners on all of those products. So the stress certainly increases over the holidays. If you're having people over for the holidays, I recommend having your pet out of all of the activity, because who wants to be visiting the emergency room the night after Christmas or the day after because your pet has pancreatitis? Because the 4-year-old kept handing him ham fat during the dinner. You know, these are things that can come up. Certainly with decorations, puppies and kittens may consume bulbs or tinsel, something that you hang on the tree, and you do have to be aware of that. I find one of the biggest problems around the holidays is well-meaning friends, relatives, neighbors who put together a package of toys and treats for pets, and the pet is eating products. Sometimes you don't even know what they're made of because they'll just be, you know, in a little gift bag, some treats, and the pet may not tolerate the ingredients. So I do see a lot of GI upset following holidays, and sometimes toys are given to pets or chew toys that are treated maybe, or maybe they've used stuffing or some fire retardant, something that has chemical contaminants in it for the toy processing. And nobody's testing these things for heavy metals like arsenic, and sometimes we're feeding our pets and they're ingesting chemicals on on and in toys that may cause them some harm or cumulative harm over time. So I always, with my own dog, if people gave me treats, I would say, "Well, thank you," and then pass them on because I didn't want my dog to have some negative or toxic event, and ask people in the future just, you know, if they wanted to give something, here's the things that my dog can eat. You know, thank you very much, these are well-meaning people, but they can cause some harm to the pets. And then there are some other toxins, and you can find lists of toxic plants, including poinsettias, that can be toxic, but they're not as highly toxic as lilies, for instance. For cats, lilies are highly toxic. But you can find lists of plants and poisons, including chocolates, on the ASPCA website, on the Veterinary Toxicology website, and it's really a great thing to keep their phone number on hand, along with your credit card, real handy, so if a pet does ingest something that may be a toxin, you can do a consultation with their veterinary toxicologist before shooting off to an emergency clinic and, and trying to diagnose the problem on your own. So, again, there's lots of potential hazards around the holidays. You know, think of fatty foods, treats that might have raisins in them, chocolate. Those smell good to pets, and they will sometimes seek them out and even open up presents under a tree and consume them. So, be careful with leaving chocolates, you know, oatmeal raisin cookies, because raisins can be a serious toxin in any plants. And go to that website and check out what could potentially be toxic before you let plants or flowers into your home, and before you purchase any yourself.

Well, you know, when you were talking earlier too about the stress, Could you just give me a couple examples of, you know, when you were talking about the pet sort of senses how you feel, are you meaning like if you're real stressed out and anxious, that sort of transfers to the pet? Is that what you mean?

Not, not just sort of, it absolutely does.

Yeah, it does. Yes. So there you could be making your dog more stressed out when you think you're helping in some way. Oh, yeah, that is really— well, I hope that people are— do you know, is there a way to know, like, when your, your dog is happy or sad by their face?

Well, there are subtle cues, but clearly ears up, wagging tail, pretty happy pet. But there are a lot of pets who are, just like children, very manipulative, and they will do things to make themselves look happier when they're getting positively reinforced. And sometimes with children and animals, positive reinforcement doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing, and the animal may not have good boundaries. But really, there's a behaviorist and he's a veterinarian with a PhD, and he established really great behavioral training techniques and guidelines, and most really excellent behaviorists and the— or animal behaviorists in this country either trained with him or somebody who trained with him. And his name's Dr. Ian Dunbar, D-U-N-B-A-R, and he has a website website that you can, I think, purchase training videos or access to videos, and it was called— for the puppies— Sirius, S-I-R-I-U-S, like the constellation, dog training. And he gives guidelines about what is stressed, what is happy, what is not good. And just like children, dogs need to know their limitations. They need to have boundaries. And if we create a secure environment with good boundary setting, that actually reduces stress, and that starts with the individual pet owner and humans in the household. So, it really— creating a stress-free environment is impossible, but a reduced stress environment includes good boundary setting. When children and animals don't have boundaries, they are actually more stressed because they are constantly seeking what limits are. And we know this, you know, with kids that come into my office with their parents. Sometimes they're toddlers in a stroller and they start fussing and they get reinforced for making a big scene. And what does the parent do? They hand them food or they hand them their phone to watch a video. I see this with kids as young as a year old. And to me, that's horrifying because they don't have any boundaries or limits, and we're allowing something else to babysit. I see those same households have pets that if they start having a fuss, they're immediately given a treat, so this reinforces bad behavior, again, creating a more stressful environment for humans and animals to feed off of. So, it becomes really important to understand good behavior, to have reinforcements for good behavior rather than reinforcements for bad behavior, and to put some limitations on things like, you know, in a household, the kids are running around, they want to use the electronics, they start throwing a fit. What do parents do? They don't want to deal with throwing a fit, so we get the kids the electronics. Then kids are up until midnight, they don't want to go to bed, they're fussy in the morning. You know, this creates a stressful environment. For the animals as well. And then when the animals are acting out, oftentimes they're getting overfed because we're going to give them a treat also. And this is kind of a self-perpetuating negative environment for animals and people. Yeah. So, so, yes, so, so, but, but it's becoming more commonplace in our world. Because, again, a lot of times people don't want to be the bad guys, but it's really important to start considering that you're not really being a bad guy if you're setting limits for your children and animals. And so, any system that has rewards also needs to have some negative consequence when boundaries are pushed or rules are broken. And there's ways to do that without beating your children or animals. So, again, I find it really important to teach and understand these philosophies for the animals, 'cause that's where my job ends. I can't teach people how to raise their children, but interestingly enough, when I worked and trained with Dr. Dunbar, I realized many of those principles she taught for animal training and boundaries also apply to humans and will make you a better teacher, a better leader for, for the humans around you if you learn these principles for the animals. So I highly recommend Dr. Dunbar's work.

And for all of us, we will— yeah, we will, we will check that out. But I'll tell you, Dr. Morrow, I've made a decision, and that is that you're going to have to be an annual guest every year. Because I already have all these questions that are coming forward from listeners and people, and like, we can't talk about them all at one time, but you are just like this wealth of knowledge, and everyone wants to know what they can do to help their pet, you know. Oh, yeah. And it's just, you know, it's just so wonderful to have you on. So, Dr. Morrow, before we we close today, I have to ask you, what is your proudest moment as a vet?

Oh my goodness. Okay. So, the first thing that comes in mind will be my answer, but I'm already getting tears in my eyes as I think of it. There was several years ago, and two events actually come to mind, and they were both cases that were injured animals, and I was on emergency service and saw these animals late at night. And I have to tell you, I was— in the one case, I remember thinking, "Ugh, I have to go in. It's 3 o'clock in the morning. I'm not going to enjoy this." And in both cases, I was super busy, and the following day when the animals, which survived their injuries, when the owners came in— both cases involved two young children that were the owners— that made me realize how super important these animals were. And in the one case was a child who had a seizure disorder, and I didn't know it at the time I treated the animal, and the owners, in my opinion, the parents seemed excessively worried when the animal wasn't that seriously injured. But, in both cases, I certainly got the lesson that the universe wanted me to get, and that was to drop my judgments on the situation that I saw initially. And, in both those cases, the children, as soon as they saw me come up to speak to their family about the pet's condition, both times, the children ran across the room, hugged me, gave me painting or drawings that they had done that were thank-yous for caring for their pets. And, uh, it was very, very moving. And along with that feeling of being moved and appreciative for their responses, uh, was the lesson of, like, you could— you never know what these animals mean to any single client, an owner. And oftentimes it's so much more than just a pet. In the one child's case, it was their animal that warned the family about seizures, and it wasn't a dog. That case was a cat, which was a real lesson for me. Yeah, and they said— you know, the people said to me the night before, "You don't understand, this pet means so much," and I'm thinking, "Okay, this is a cat, and you know, and it's going to be okay." But when I met the child, I had a whole different picture, and I understood why it meant so much to them. But they were beautiful, beautiful stories.

What a way to end! What a way to end! Well, Dr. Morrow, thank you for being with me today. Uh, we love having you on, and I will look forward to having you on next year. We end every show with a quote, and here it is: For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills I know All the birds of the hills and all that moves in the field is mine, says the Lord. This is Joyce Bender, America's Voice, where disability matters, at voiceamerica.com. Talk to you all next week, and in the words of Mary Brocker, choose joy.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific Time and 2 PM Eastern Time for another installment of Disability Matters, right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.