Dr. Rossi’s special guest this week is Dr. Kathleen Heaney, Associate Director of Scientific Marketing Affairs at Merck Animal Health. Dr. Heaney explained how Merck’s new flea and tick treatment product Activyl works. Activyl features Indoxacarb, a chemical totally unknown to fleas, and for which there is no known resistance. This new chemical undergoes bioactivation, in which enzymes inside the flea activate the lethal nature of the chemical. The property of Activyl makes it a unique and effec...
Jan 31, 2013•15 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week was Susan Towler, owner of “The Barking Lot,” a boarding house for dogs. The Barking Lot is one of the new wave of dog boarding facilities that maintains dogs with minimal caging, or boarding without borders! While dogs do have their own rooms, a significant portion of their day is spent with a group of dogs. This encourages increased exercise, and socialization, as well as reducing stress in many cases. Sue emphasized, however, that dogs housed this way must be caref...
Jan 21, 2013•30 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Ron Smith, the owner of a most unusual pet shop, named “House of Reptiles.” The average listener, however, might think of it as a “house of horrors” since the shop features snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, salamanders, tarantulas and scorpions! Nevertheless, Ron cheerfully explained why many people have a fascination and affinity for these animals, and explained some of the important factors needed for keeping them healthy in captivity. The legalities of owning rep...
Jan 14, 2013•34 min
Happy New Year Pet Lovers! Welcome back after a brief holiday break to another edition of WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY PET? with your vet, Dr. John Rossi– Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Clint Wilkinson, an animal rescuer who works with Wildlife Solutions, one of the largest animal rescue organizations in the United States. This is Clint’s second appearance, back by popular demand! This show featured a lively discussion and lots of “creepy” stuff… i...
Jan 07, 2013•39 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Alan Weldon, a Board Certified Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist. Dr. Weldon’s special interest lies in solving difficult medical mysteries. To that end, he has become extremely proficient in performing ultrasounds. Scores of veterinarians from South Carolina to Florida call upon him to help diagnose difficult cases. In fact, he travels so much his motto has become “Diagnose and Adios!” Dr. Weldon works on a wide variety of species, from small animals to ...
Dec 24, 2012•36 min
Dr. Rossi’s guests this week are Karl and Cyndi Betz, a married couple who are experienced reptile keepers. This lively discussion included the responsibilities, dangers, and politics of keeping reptiles, as well as the psychological benefits on their children and family. An argument for keeping venomous snakes was presented by Karl, and Cyndi followed with an extremely informational segment on keeping and breeding Chinese Fox turtles. To learn more about this fascinating hobby, go to: http://ww...
Dec 17, 2012•27 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Betty Grogan, the manager of the commissary at the Jacksonville Zoo, in Florida. Betty is responsible for the diets of everything from rodents to rhinoceroses. She starts her day at the zoo at 5am every morning to coordinate the massive effort to provide 325 individual diets for zoo animals. She must for analyze input from curators, veterinarians, and keepers before formulating each diet. Betty is aided in this task by 4 assistants, The quantities and types of food...
Dec 10, 2012•28 min
Dr. Rossi’s returning guest this week is Andrea Works, a veterinary technician. Andrea shared with us her passion for animals and her job. She explained the requirements for becoming a veterinary technician, and gave details of her training. And she related several stories about some of her more difficult days, and shared some of her wilder stories, as well. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS Dr. Rossi also discussed a recent article describing stress-inducing factors in the...
Dec 03, 2012•1 min
Dr. Rossi flies solo in this episode of “What’s Wrong with My Pet?” He covered some of the latest news from the world of veterinary medicine. He began with Holiday Warnings, and listed a wide variety of foods that may be harmful to your pets, as well as Christmas Hazards, and even gave a recent example from his own practice. The list includes some items you would never expect to be dangerous, so tune in to find out! Dr. Rossi then presented a shocking study that revealed the health risks of bird...
Nov 26, 2012•34 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Kandra Jones, a veterinarian with 35 years of experience. She is also a member of the Florida Board of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Jones shared with us some of the changes that have occurred in veterinary Medicine over her years of practice. These include the improvements in anesthesia and in-house laboratory equipment, among others. Veterinarians now commonly use ultrasound and other diagnostic tools that heretofore were not available. Subscribe with your favorit...
Nov 19, 2012•33 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Linda Brocker of Bark Busters in NE Florida. Linda is a dog behavioral therapist and trainer who discussed a variety of canine behavior problems. These included: aggression towards people and other dogs, separation anxiety, and destructive behaviors. She attributed many of these problems, and others to a lack of leadership, exercise, and stimulation. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS Linda also stressed the importance of ruling out an underlyi...
Nov 12, 2012•32 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is pet sitter Nickee Mixon, of Creatures Great and Small Petsitting Service in the North Florida area. Nickee has 10 years of experience as a licensed and insured pet sitter and cares for dogs, cats, birds, fish and rodents. she gave a great argument for the benefits of pet sitting over boarding your pets, which include: less stress for your pet(s), less exposure to diseases from other animals, less travel, maintains your pet’s routine, and is far more personalized. I...
Nov 05, 2012•29 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Clint Wilkinson, an animal rescuer who works with Wildlife Solutions, one of the largest animal rescue organizations in the United States. Their agents can be recognized by the distinctive zebra-striped trucks! Clint described how he rescues a wide variety of wild animals from people’s properties. These animals have included raccoons, skunks, opossum, armadillos, snakes, and many others. Most of these animals are relocated, but introduced or non-native species are ...
Oct 29, 2012•38 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dino Ferri, the head reptile curator at the Jacksonville Zoo, in Florida. Dino shared with us many of his duties, which include public education, conservation, and animal husbandry, as well as his role as a researcher and rescuer. He also discussed keeping reptiles in the home, and how they make great low-maintenance pets. Dino then added a number of precautions that one must take when keeping reptiles, and discussed the health risks. He finished with a humorous st...
Oct 22, 2012•37 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Patty Honcoop, an avowed animal rescuer, who specializes in ferrets and opossums. Patty shared with us many of the unique problems related to ferrets, and their often high-maintenance costs. She points out that many people are not aware of this high-maintenance cost and shirk their responsibilities to older ferrets. The economic situation that we’re in has only seemed to worsen this trend. This has resulted in a tremendous financial, physical, and emotional drain f...
Oct 15, 2012•26 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Erica Cobb, owner of Wild Things Dog Training, out of Jacksonville, Florida. Erica is a certified dog trainer, who gave us extremely valuable tips on how to solve a number of canine behavioral problems. These include: potty training, jumping, nipping, barking, leash pulling, anxiety and aggression. She also discussed tips for socializing your dog, and explained expected fees for a trainer, and how to choose one. This show is packed with advice, so don’t miss it! An...
Oct 08, 2012
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Paul Studivant Division Chief with St. John’s County Animal Control in Florida. Paul is an 18 year veteran of the department, and shared with us many common misconceptions that people have about animal care and control. He says that it is often a thankless job, and can be very difficult, but that deep down he knows that he’s helping the animals that he works with. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS His favorite task is reuniting a pet with it’s...
Oct 01, 2012•30 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Katrina Toshach, a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist. Dr. Toshach’s special area of interest is veterinary endocrinology and she discussed in detail some of the more common hormonal diseases of dogs and cats. These include: diabetes, thyroid disease, and Cushing’s. She mentioned the importance of diet in managing some of these disease, as well as the use of certain medicines and other treatment modalities including radioactive iodine thera...
Sep 24, 2012•33 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Nate Ferguson, a co-owner of Paw Prints Pet Crematory. Nate discussed difficult decisions that need to be made when a beloved pet passes away. These options include cremation or burial in a pet cemetary, or at home. The benefit of pet cremation is that it allows one to keep their pet close to them, indefinetly. He gave a detailed description of the process, and mentioned how they insure quality control. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS Nate s...
Sep 15, 2012•31 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Victoria Vesce, a regional sales and training representative for Pet Stop, an underground fencing system. Victoria discussed the numerous benefits the Pet Stop system and training program offers the average pet owner. Not only is it effective for preventing escapes, but it allows the dog to have more freedom while on the property. Subscribe with your favorite podcast player Android RSS She dispelled the common misconceptions about these “fences,” firstly, that the ...
Sep 10, 2012•32 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is board certified avian veterinarian Dr. Michelle Curtis. Dr. Curtis explained why birds are different from dogs and cats, and discussed many of the unique requirements that they have. She proceeded to give many tips and tricks for feeding birds and properly housing them. In addition she discussed why beak trimming, nail trimming, and wing trimming may NOT be necessary. She extolled the value of annual exams and blood work for birds since they are so good at hiding t...
Sep 03, 2012•34 min
Dr. Rossi spoke from the heart in this show, in which he described what veterinarians and pets are experiencing in this difficult economy. He stated that thousands of dogs, cats, and horses were losing their homes as their owners lost jobs and houses. He explained how this resulted in a reduced number of client visits for the average veterinarian even though vets still have the same or higher overhead expenses. This, combined with the sharp increase in the cost of drugs has resulted in a major i...
Aug 26, 2012•32 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is veterinary technician Andrea Works. Andrea has been caring for animals since she was a child, and has been a vet tech for two and a half years. She shares with us enthusiasm and caring for animals of all kinds, including dogs, cats, and exotic animals. Andrea described her training and the experience required to become a certified veterinary technician. But once certified, she acquired the toughest job she ever loved! According to Andrea, a vet tech is many roles, ...
Aug 19, 2012•28 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Patricia White, a board certified veterinary dermatologist at the Atlanta Veterinary Skin and Allergy Clinic. Dr. White discussed the most common problems in veterinary dermatology, including allergies, bacterial and fungal infections, and mange. She also briefly touched upon autoimmune diseases. Dr. White described some of the common signs of allergies, such as scratching, chewing, rubbing, and mentioned that “scooting” was perhaps the most common sign of alle...
Aug 13, 2012•40 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Carlos Aragon, a board certified veterinary surgeon. Dr. Aragon has been practicing for 9 years as a veterinary surgery specialist. He began his discussion by clarifying exactly what board certification requires, which was very impressive. He brings this experience to bear on a wide variety of difficult cases. His special areas of interest are cancer surgery, and orthopedic surgery. One of the interesting aspects of a specialist practice is the extra equipment ...
Aug 05, 2012•27 min
This week Dr. Rossi’s guest is magnet school science teacher, Mike Rossi, who could not contain his love for animals to just the classroom! So he started an organization called Wild Wonders, which may be described as a traveling road show of education about animals. Mike discussed many of the benefits of bringing the animals to the children who might not otherwise be able to see them. In addition, he recounts many of the procedures that one should take when traveling with animals. He also highli...
Jul 30, 2012•28 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is sophomore veterinary student Beth Ann Frost. Beth Ann is attending Auburn University and shares with us how competitive it was to get into veterinary school, and her experiences once there. Like many veterinary students, she had already received more than a just a Bachelor’s degree. In fact, she has a Master’s degree in Public Health. It was this study in public health, that fueled her interest in zoonotic diseases (animal diseases contagious to people.) She relate...
Jul 23, 2012•29 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dan Maloney, Deputy Director of Conservation and Education at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. Dan brings his 30 years of experience working in zoos around the world to bear (pun intended) as he answers questions about the role of the modern zoo. No longer solely housing animals for entertainment purposes, the modern zoo is heavily involved in both conservation and education. He discussed a variety of programs, including the marine mammal response team, the reptil...
Jul 16, 2012•34 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week, Dr. Ashley Paper, is a feline practitioner, and a 1992 graduate of Auburn University. She became certified in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM) in 2007, and is the owner of the Anastasia Cat Clinic in St. Augustine Florida. Dr. Paper begins by discussing the benefits of treating only cats, both for her patients and herself. The greatest benefits to her feline patients appears to be a reduction in stress when they are not in the presence of dogs, as well ...
Jul 09, 2012•42 min
Dr. Rossi’s guest this week is Dr. Tracy LaDue. Dr. LaDue is a veterinary oncologist who graduated from North Carolina State in 1994. She became board certified in medical oncology in 1998, and in radiation oncology in 2000. She is a nationally known authority on veterinary cancer therapy. Dr. LaDue describes, in detail, how to tell if your pets may have cancer. Some of the things that she said to look for are: loss of appetite, mobility or energy. She also warns that non-healing wounds are a ma...
Jul 02, 2012
