Kidsplanation: Puppies, Kitties, and Pet Parenting
In this episode of Kidsplanation, Dr. Sugerman and his son Oren explore the ins and outs of caring for our furry companions. From understanding the needs of different dog breeds to creating safe spaces for cats, they cover it all. Tune in for valuable tips, adorable stories, and a dose of pet-loving fun.
What You’ll Learn:
Pet Toy Wisdom:
Selecting toys suitable for a dog's size and breed.
Durable toy recommendations for strong-jawed breeds.
Canine Exercise Essentials:
Understanding exercise needs based on dog breeds.
Ensuring adequate exercise, even for low-energy dogs.
Harmony Between Cats and Dogs:
Introducing cats and dogs with positive reinforcement.
Creating safe spaces for cats during introductions.
Kids and Pet Harmony:
Evaluating family lifestyle for suitable pet choices.
Considerations for families with young children.
Managing Pet Allergies:
Coping with common pet allergies.
Exploring hypoallergenic dog breeds and clean practices for hairless cats
Ideas Worth Sharing:
"Taking them for hikes, even if it's a breed that's not a big needs a lot of exercise." - Dr. Tyler Sugerman
"Evaluate all aspects of your life, your home, your kids, to see if a pet will fit in." - Dr. Tyler Sugerman
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Read The Transcript:
Dr. Sugerman: [00:00:00] Hi, and welcome to Vetsplanation. I'm your veterinary host, Dr. Sugerman, and I'm going to teach you about veterinary medicine. In this podcast, we can dive deeper into the understanding of what our pets are going through and break down medical terms into easier to understand chunks of information. Just a quick disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only.
This is not meant to be a diagnosis for your pet. If you have questions about diagnostics or treatment options, please talk to your veterinarian about those things. Remember, we are all practicing veterinary medicine and medicine is not an exact science. Your veterinarian may have different treatment options and different opinions.
The information I provide here is to help pet parents have a better understanding about their pets. If you like our podcast, please consider sharing this podcast with at least one friend or just somebody else who has pets as well. Now, let's jump into this week's episode.
Hey everybody welcome back to Vetsplanation. This edition is going to be another Kidsplanation.[00:01:00]
So if you have not listened to Kidsplanation yet, this is Oren. He is my almost 11 year old son, who's going to be asking me questions usually I know some sort of like general premise of what we're talking about, but I can't research any of these things, I don't know what he's going to ask me about, this week, though, he had asked me about like how to take care of pets. I thought this was a great time to do it now, right before the holiday season, because lots of people are getting puppies and kittens for, for Christmas. I've already seen quite a few of them just even in the pet stores and...
People walking around with their pets and then also coming into the clinics with their new little puppies and kittens. I thought this would be a good topic for that. Alright, do you want to say hi Oren?
Oren: Hi.
Dr. Sugerman: Alright what question do you want to ask me?
Oren: How can somebody take care of a cat or dog, or multiple of them, and keep them fed and cared for?
Dr. Sugerman: Okay. So basically how do we care for pets pretty well, right?
Oren: What do we have to give them? What do we not give [00:02:00] them? What should we do? What should we not do?
Dr. Sugerman: Okay, that's a broad question, right? So we'll try to answer some of these questions. Some of the big things for like when people are getting dogs and cats is like recognizing how much work they are.
If you have cats you have to decide if they're going to be indoor cats, outdoor cats, indoor outdoor cats. And those come with a mixture of problems. If you have an indoor cat, they're not necessarily getting as much exercise, right? Because they're not out hunting for things.
Getting them toys that are going to help them exercise is really helpful. Sometimes when you do it as a kitten, getting them a wheel can be great. Because then they can exercise on that wheel and run for quite a while.
Oren: So like a, it's like one of the hamster wheels, except larger.
Dr. Sugerman: Exactly.
Oren: Maybe a little wider.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. Yeah. It's much bigger for sure. Or things that they can chase after, like little remote control mice, those things that we get for them, the toys that we get for them that have things that move a lot. So that way they like get more exercise.
Oren: Laser pointers.
Dr. Sugerman: Laser pointers, exactly.
For your outdoor [00:03:00] cats, or indoor outdoor cats, like that also comes with concerns. It's great because they do get more exercise when they're outside, but they can also pick up a lot of things from outside as well. They get more upper respiratory tract infections, more abscesses, and I've talked about that on a previous episode where, just bacteria that forms under the skin, mostly from like cat fights and stuff.
Or, other big problems is they could be hit by a car. We have to take all those things into consideration as to what we think is going to be best for that cat. And that's based on what the pet parent thinks. It's not just going to be based on what I, as a veterinarian, think.
It's what the pet parent thinks. And then, we just know that there's risks to both things. Some of the other things for like, thinking about with cats is what kind of food you're going to feed them. Cats are supposed to be carnivores. Do you know what a carnivore is?
Oren: An animal that eats meat.
Dr. Sugerman: Yep. Animal that eats meat. Yep. Exactly.
Oren: Or you can give them like cat kibble, which is not meat.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, it's not meat, but a lot of it has meat in it, so it's gonna have a lot of that meat stuff in it. But they're not just carnivores, they are actually [00:04:00] omnivores. They do eat meat, but they will eat other random things as well.
Like think about cat grass and stuff like that, right? Like they'll eat that. Other things added to it as well, but the main thing is like they have to have something called taurine, which is very essential to them. If they don't have taurine, they'll have a heart problem. Some people will try to make diets at home and that's fine as long as it has taurine and mixed vitamins and minerals in it.
Or buying just good quality of cat food. Another big thing about trying to discuss what kind of food you should feed them. It's really... Again, based on the pet parent, like if they can't afford to do much and they can only get whatever the cheapest bag at the pet store or something is, then that's what they feed them.
And that's okay, as long as it has like that taurine and vitamins and minerals in it. It's not going to be the best food, but if that's what they can feed them, then I'm okay with that. Versus if somebody has a lot of means and a lot of money who can feed them a really good food, then that's what they should be doing is feed them a really high quality food.
[00:05:00] And then, last big things are, making sure that their litter box, if they are going to be inside, that they have one litter box per animal plus one. So they're supposed to have, let's say you have two cats, then you should have three litter boxes. Four cats, you should have five litter boxes. So you should have multiple litter boxes for them.
Oren: That doesn't make sense. Are they territorial about their litter boxes?
Dr. Sugerman: That's a great question. So they can be territorial about their litter boxes, but also having just a variety of litter boxes helps them to be able to make sure that they are not afraid to go in a litter box. Sometimes doing different types of litter.
'cause sometimes cats like different types of litter, like maybe one cat likes normal litter and another cat likes newspaper type litter. Or another cat likes the like pearl type litter. So using like a variety of different things in the litter boxes, plus also having multiple litter boxes so that they have options of where to go.
And that's going to be decreasing the chances that they go where they're not supposed to.
Oren: But... [00:06:00] We have three cats. Why do we have one litter box, Dad?
Dr. Sugerman: That is a great question. We have to scoop our litter box constantly. Yes, we have to scoop our litter box constantly. Luckily, none of our cats are very territorial. They don't really care as much.
Oren: Other than Genesis. She tries to run out of the house sometimes.
Dr. Sugerman: Yes that's a whole other thing.
Oren: Other than that.
Dr. Sugerman: But yeah, luckily our cats like, we just scoop our litter boxes literally multiple times a day. And that's because of the fact that we don't have an area to put multiple litter boxes.
Oren: You have that one corner next to the stairs, and I guess that's kind of it.
Dr. Sugerman: Yep, that's pretty much it, unfortunately. But one of us is always home to be able to like, literally clean the litter boxes constantly. Yes, yes. So if you want to keep, if you want to clean the litter boxes too, that'd be great.
Alright last big thing is making sure you have an identification for your cat. So if they do get out, you had mentioned like Genesis likes to try to get out, right? So we used to try to keep a collar on her, but she would get it off all the time. We don't even know where her [00:07:00] last collar is.
It's just gone. But each one of our cats do have a microchip. So that way, if they are lost, somebody will be able to take them to a pet hospital, which will then give the information to tell them how to get ahold of us to be able to get her back.
Oren: Okay, what's a microchip?
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, great. So a microchip is this teeny, teeny, tiny little thing.
It's like this big. Super tiny and we put it underneath their skin usually between the shoulder blades. So that way there's this. And there's this like little scanner that we use that we just scan it over where their microchip is and then it gives us a number and it's not the person's phone number it gives us like a number to call that microchip company and then we'll tell them what the number is and then they'll either they'll usually contact the owner themselves or if it's the pet hospital and then sometimes they'll have us contact them but either way we contact the pet parent to be able to get them back safely to them pretty [00:08:00] cool huh?
Yeah. Some big things to think about with dogs and cats, with dogs then is their personality,
Oren: And the cats, I was going to ask,
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah.
Oren: What to expect from them, how they're going to treat you, how to, how to help with that, how to change personalities and how to get them less shy.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, so you can see that our three cats just, they have very different personalities, right?
Oren: My cat is really cuddly and then. And then we have Genesis, who attempted to take my eye out and got really close. And then there's, and then there's Beta, who was really shy and still is, but you can get her out there if it's necessary.
Dr. Sugerman: She's better, right? She's gotten better. Yeah, so we have cats come in all sorts of personalities.
People think that cats really just want to be, like, left alone.
Oren: Judge you.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, and judge you. But, but they're very different. They all have very different [00:09:00] personalities. And even just the three of our cats, you can see that they have very different personalities too. Now you have your cat, who's super cuddly, who wants to like, be on top of you all the time.
Oren: And then there's the, I just, I literally want to kill your cute little chihuahua friend cat.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, Genesis. Yeah, so Genesis she is very loving, but she doesn't like certain people. She doesn't like the kids, unfortunately.
Oren: I think it's that she gets playful, because if you rub her on the belly, she will bat you, and she will get really excited, and that's the hard part. She has very sharp claws. And I don't think a lot of us like getting shredded hands right here.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. So it's just like learning from them when you can and cannot touch them. Cats we always have this joke you can pet them two and a half times. Because it just depends on them.
Sometimes they're like, Okay, I want you to pet me, and sometimes they don't want you to pet them. It's just learning from them, and taking cues from them. So you gotta really watch their body language to tell [00:10:00] what they want and what they don't want. If she starts flicking her tail, then she probably doesn't want you to touch her anymore.
That's her warning that she's done. Versus Little Red, he's on top of you. He wants to be like, suckling on you, cuddling with you. He wants you constantly, right? He wants you to touch him all the time.
Oren: He will chew my ears.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. So he's, he's not like that. He's not gonna give you warning bites or scratches and things.
Oren: He's not, he's not done. He's I don't care how many times you pet me. I only care when you stop.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, exactly. And then he just wants more, right? And then you have Beta, so like, Cats are very scared. That's, that's with them. It's like just really gaining their trust. So it used to be that she would only come out when the kids were asleep.
Oren: And now, she'll come out if I beckon for her. If I put my hand out. And then give her enough time. Make myself look small.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, exactly. Make yourself look small.
Oren: Less intimidating.
Dr. Sugerman: You have her come to you. Don't go, don't go like on top of her. Have her come to you. So those kind of cats, it's better to just...
[00:11:00] Sit quietly and allow them to come to you.
Oren: If the make yourself less intimidating trick doesn't work, then you can basically, you can just kneel or you can keep yourself up there, maybe crouch a little bit, put your hand out. They'll come, they'll sniff your hand, they'll curl around it if they're happy with you, with a hug about it like that.
Like that.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, exactly. They'll, they'll come up to you and make a connection with you, right? And, and it's great when you feel like when they finally do come around to you, right? Was it a pretty good feeling when she finally came up to you? Yeah.
Oren: Yeah, the only hard feeling was when I had to stop and go to school or something.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. Yeah.
Oren: It's hard. Once you pet a cat, either you just don't want to do it or you can't stop.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, he, he is a big cat person by the way, if you couldn't tell. Okay, did that answer your question about the cats? Okay.
Oren: And now we can, go on to the dogs.
Dr. Sugerman: On dogs. Okay. So onto dogs. So dogs, you have to really [00:12:00] like, worry about their personality a bit more.
With cats, it's just a gamble what kind of personality you're going to get. Yep. But with dogs, like based on their breed, they'll have like somewhat of a certain personality.
Oren: Hunting dog, large dog. lap dog, which is a small dog, and then the dogs that, that, that you are going to hear are barking in the middle of the night.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah some dogs, yeah, some dogs are big barking type of dogs, howling type of dogs, like those usually are hounds, howl a lot, or huskies, shepherds, like those are the very loud dogs. You might have a dog that you're thinking wants to be a hunting dog. A lot of those dogs are very high, strong dogs, like they need a lot of work, a lot of energy.
They need to, they need to have a job all the time. So they, they tend to need to have a lot more that you need to do with them. Versus some of your lap dogs. Small dogs, like they tend to want to be in your lap all the time. They want to be cuddled all the time.
Oren: They'll jump, they're excited all the [00:13:00] time. Not high strung, really.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, not really high strung.
Oren: Unless you're talking about like a chihuahua or something.
Dr. Sugerman: Sometimes, yeah, sometimes our chihuahuas are high strung. But, in general, you have to decide what kind of dog you think is gonna be best for your lifestyle. Some people really like a dog just based on their looks, like huskies.
People are like, oh, what a beautiful dog looks like, kind of like a wolf, right? But, that's not always the best dog for people because they also require a lot of energy. You gotta do a lot of things with them. They have lots of hair that they shed all the time but they're on the go. They want to be go, go, go all the time.
So if somebody is a kind of more sedentary lifestyle or they're really not going to do big things like hiking, running, things like that with them.
Oren: And they do all that like a lap dog.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. Then maybe a smaller dog or maybe a just lazier dog would be more appropriate for them.
Oren: The less I'm running laps around, like I am running circuits through the living room and [00:14:00] have enough energy to go on a 15 mile hike.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, yeah.
Oren: More of the low strung, okay, can we sit on the couch for two hours, maybe, dog?
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, yeah. Sometimes you just need a lazy dog, and that's okay, too. But again, you just have to figure out what's going to fit with your lifestyle and what kind of dog that you think is going to be the best for you.
Oren: Then feeding them.
Dr. Sugerman: Now feeding them. The same thing with the dogs as with the cats. A higher quality of food is going to be better, but if that means for that person, that, that pet parent, that they can only afford some really cheap brand at Costco or at, at the food supply store or something, then that's fine.
I would much rather them to have some sort of food that has minerals and nutrients for them to not have any food or for them to have to like change foods constantly because they can afford it one time and they just can't afford it the next time. Really being consistent with their food is one big thing.
And then, if they can, if they have the means, trying to get them a higher quality food, if that's possible. As far as what to feed them, usually some sort of dog food is gonna be best. [00:15:00] The, one thing I forgot to mention with cats is... We used to always say that cats only feed them dry food, but we actually like them to have some wet food now because it does help with their kidneys.
With dogs, it's the same thing certain... dogs do need wet food if they have certain health conditions.
Sometimes they're very picky but it really just depends. But just usually like a good quality dog food whatever they can get it's like the best quality for them And then, for them I do recommend, though, if, like some people really like to cook for their dogs, or they like to do like a raw food diet, and those are fine.
The biggest thing I tell people about that, though, is like they have to make sure it is nutritionally balanced. There is a website called balanceit.com, and it is a free website for people to use that you put in the ingredients that you want, and... they'll tell you what ingredients you need in order to make that a well balanced diet for them.
So it's things like that just to try to help make sure that they're fed good foods. We have the same thing about, some sort of identification. All three of our dogs have a leash on, or sorry, have a collar on [00:16:00] them with a, with a tag. They all three have a microchip as well.
So the tags are so that way somebody can find them and, and... quickly get them back to us. They have gotten out one time and like they were able to come back to us pretty quickly.
Oren: They were having a lot of fun in the neighbor's yard. And then microchips would be if the dog somehow gets the collar off or a collar is removed, then they then there's still the microchip.
Dr. Sugerman: Yep. Exactly. Like our big dogs, they play rough with each other. And so they, before they used to rip off this little tag that we had on there. So instead we have like in this metal embroidered thing on their collar. So that way it's harder for them to take off.
Oren: It's not as easy to bite your neck.
Dr. Sugerman: Yes.
Oren: Especially when you have a elongated face, you can't.
Dr. Sugerman: You can't really do that, huh?
Oren: You can't get to your neck.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. And then, also toys for them as well. And this is going to be a really big factor depending on like the type of dog that you have. If you have a big bully type breed, then probably getting some really soft toy is not going to be [00:17:00] ideal.
Because they have really strong jaws. You need to get them very tough toys in order to be able to do that.
Oren: Squeaky toys, I don't know, for the way larger dog breeds? Like the Kongs?
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, Kongs are great. There's on Bullybox is a good one. Cause they'll have a lot of really tough chewing toys.
But trying to find things that are like for more bully breeds. And that's not just for bullies as well. We also have like, we have a great Dane and she has... a really strong bite as well. And so getting her something that's tougher too. She really likes squeaky toys, and she doesn't rip them apart, she just likes to squeak them.
Oren: She just enjoys them.
Dr. Sugerman: She just likes to squeak them.
Oren: They come apart on their own when she's with them.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. Well, No, our little dog, Challah, she's the one that rips them up.
Oren: She, she's if it's a, if it's a squeaky cake. She doesn't see it as a squeaky cake. She sees it as a, as yummy food that is squeaky and will probably taste a lot better.
She does not see it as a toy. She sees it as the real [00:18:00] deal that also has a squeaky inside.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. So yeah, just like making sure that the toys are appropriate for them, you don't want small toys, something that they can choke on, if you know that your dog is the type of dog that's going to rip things apart, or if it's that type of breed that's going to rip things apart, maybe don't get them toys that have stuffing, they have stuffingless toys in there, and then also making sure to get them exercise, taking them on hikes, taking them for walks, even if it's like a breed that's still not a big needs a lot of exercise, we still take ours for hikes, so that way I get some exercise.
Oren: I remember what we had to do for Matzah. She was, she was, she's a Labrador. She had, when me and my little sister Abigail were tiny, tiny children, the entire floor was just in, in Matzah's eyes Floor Scrap City and she got all fat because of that and we're still burning it. We're still burning it.
Dr. Sugerman: Yes. She definitely like, you know, [00:19:00] Labradors love food.
Yes. They love food.
Oren: If you see a labrador, then you know, if you get it, you need to make sure that your floors are clean.
Dr. Sugerman: So that's a big thing for trying to make sure that they don't get into things that they shouldn't.
So you were asking me before about what kind of food should they not get? Really the big ones are gonna be things like chocolate, grapes, and raisins. That's a big one that kids tend to have.
Oren: Is that the same with cats?
Dr. Sugerman: Uh, Chocolate, yes, but grapes and raisins, we aren't 100 percent sure on. We've always said no, but then there's been like a couple of cases that's a possible that could have caused a problem.
Oren: Do not take chances.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, I, I just wouldn't take the chances, like we rarely have grapes and raisins in our house and even then.
Oren: Even when we do, we... Me and my sister just freak out and we are like jumping on the floor if we drop like one blueberry or one grape. We grab it immediately, throw that in the trash
Dr. Sugerman: But the big thing is that we've trained you to know if something falls on the floor, pick it up immediately.
And that's the big things so they shouldn't have grapes, [00:20:00] chocolate, raisins, onions and garlic are another big thing they shouldn't get to. Macadamia nuts. Those are all kind of these big things that they shouldn't have as far as food wise, but really the pets shouldn't be fed scrap food in the first place.
Oren: Do not let anything fall. Do not take chances.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. They can get something called pancreatitis, which I have talked about before on a previous episode, but it basically causes inflammation of the pancreas, which then causes vomiting and diarrhea. And the more often that they get that food, the more often they get pancreatitis, and that just makes the pancreas worse and worse. They get pancreatitis more and more.
Oren: And then cat, and then cat to dog. interaction, what the heck is going to happen.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. That's always hard. We don't know because each type of dog is different. You have some dogs that are very prey driven, meaning if they see a cat run, they're going to run after it.
Oren: So there are those types, there are the dog [00:21:00] does not care about cat. Cat does not care about dog. And then there's cat despises dog. Dog wants to eat cat.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, yeah. And that's the same thing with dogs. Like you might try to introduce two dogs together and they might not like each other either.
But trying to do things slowly. Yeah, trying to do things slowly is usually the best thing. Don't have them like just immediately meet because you don't know what's going to happen. Usually it's just trying to help them learn that that other animal is, is okay. So like giving them treats when they both interact, but not next to each other.
We want them to be a little bit away from each other so they don't become food aggressive or anything. But just like giving them treats at the same time so that way they both know that this is like a good experience. For cats, you need to have some place for them to be able to go hide if they get scared.
Oren: They need space and they need something that they can go under.
Dr. Sugerman: Under or on top of.
Oren: Under, on top.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. They really like being above the scary thing. Mm-Hmm. So above the dog,
Oren: My [00:22:00] cat Beta, before we got rid of our old couch, she'd hide under there. Now she normally hides in the pantry or the closet.
If that doesn't out, she can all for emergency reasons, she goes under the hutch. Where we keep all our silverware, but she rarely does that anymore.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. But there's definitely places that we have made sure that there's a space for her to be able to hide in, right? For our dogs another great thing is learning to teach them how to go to a crate, just like they have their own space as well.
So if they get nervous about being next to the other dog, that they can go have their own space. That's away for the other dog.
Oren: They need space. They need, they need some alone time. And then, recommendations for dogs and cats. Do. Not. Ask me about that. Do not ask him about that. You need to think about if you want a dog or a cat.
Don't ask people, should I get a dog or a cat? No. Look at the pros and cons. Think, I already have ten dogs. I probably shouldn't get another [00:23:00] one.
Dr. Sugerman: You probably shouldn't get a cat then either, if you have ten dogs.
Oren: You need to look at the situation of your house. My house has things to go under, and I just want...
Like a little animal to chill with yeah, maybe go for a small dog or a cat.
If you're the I just want to sit on the couch all day person don't Don't think between dog or cat.
Look at your home and then do that first.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, you have to evaluate all aspects of your life, your home, your kids, right? You got to make sure that kind of pet will fit in with, with everything in your life.
Oren: Let's say you have very, very, very, very, very unpredictable toddlers, three year olds, You might want to not have any animal, no dogs, no cats in your house.
Dr. Sugerman: There are dogs that are going to be scared of those really high strung toddlers and the best situation there is to keep them separated.
When, when that happens, like you can use baby gates, you can use the crate for the dog, something to help allow them to have their own space away from the toddler that might be like trying to grab and [00:24:00] pull and pinch and stuff, so having some safe space away from those kids is, is the best idea.
All right. What other questions do you have for me?
Oren: Pros and cons of dogs and cats. If you get a dog, what's good, what's bad. If you get a cat, what's good, what's bad.
Dr. Sugerman: I think we talked a lot about those, it depends on your lifestyle.
Oren: No, no, like health issues.
Dr. Sugerman: Oh, health issues.
Oren: What can cats do to help and what do they not help with. What can dogs do the same way?
Dr. Sugerman: A lot more people are allergic to cats than they are of dogs. So I do recommend if you've never been around a cat that you go around them, make sure that you aren't allergic to them, or at least take allergy medicine.
Like I am, both my wife and I are both allergic to cats. Your mom is allergic to cats, right? But the... But we just take allergy medication, so we're not as allergic to them. . Just doing something to like, help make sure that everybody's safe in the house. They aren't gonna be like, super allergic to the cats. People are allergic to dogs as well, just not as much as with cats. So there are some [00:25:00] dogs that are like hypoallergenic dogs.
Like those are usually the poodles. Poodles are, do not have like as much dander to them. And so they're usually a lot easier to, to have around because they're not gonna be, you're not gonna be as allergic to them.
Oren: !But don't they require a little more care?
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, you have to do a lot of grooming with them.
So you do have to take them to the groomers every couple of weeks to get their haircut. And bathed and everything. So they do require more work for sure.
Oren: And then the dogs that have a lot of hair and then the cats that don't have any, the hairless cats, think about that.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. Hairless cats they do still have quite a bit of dander to them.
Like it's, they're not quite as hypoallergenic, I think, as like some of the other ones, but
Oren: They don't have the fur, they just have peach fuzz?
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, peach fuzz. Yep. Yep. But they do have a lot of dander still. Just keeping them really clean is the easiest thing you can do for that.
Oren: And then, what was the cat that's that kind of cat that's really, really, really big?
Dr. Sugerman: You, are you talking about Maine Coons or servals?
Oren: [00:26:00] Like the Maine Coons and servals.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, servals and bengals are interesting cats of their own because they are bigger cats. So are Maine Coons. But they, servals and bengals tend to have a much higher prey drive, so they're going to want to do more hunting and they're a lot more active.
So you have to like really think about that when you have one of those cats.
And Maine Coons are pretty big as well. But they're really lazy cats. So a lot of times they're not as big on like they have to run and, and have high prey drives and stuff.
Oren: And then prices, dog prices, cat prices, and Maine Coons are probably really expensive.
Dr. Sugerman: They all vary. So even if you go to the Humane Society, you're going to have to pay like something to help to adopt them. They do sometimes have no adoption fee days, like where you can just adopt a dog or a cat for no adoption fee for the Humane Society.
Oren: Like comparing a Siamese cat to a. To I don't [00:27:00] know, Siamese to Persian, Siamese to Persian for cats, like German Shepherd to bloodhound for the dog.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, it really depends. So it depends on like the demand for them.
So like maybe one day, like this, a lot of this has to do with TV and stuff too. Because like you might have some, somebody they, like, when they had the 101 Dalmatians, right? When that happened, there was this huge demand for Dalmatians. Because everybody wanted a Dalmatian.
But then there was, like, all of these right now doodles, some sort of poodle mix with something else is the big thing now. So you're going to pay more for them than you are going to be for a Dalmatian now, because Dalmatians are not as, as like in,
Oren: At that time they were apparently 'classy' and that they were fancy if you look at it.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, they are fancy. And the same thing with all the other types of dogs. Like it just depends on what is like the in thing at that point. It's like how much are gonna pay for them.
Oren: What people want? Because when [00:28:00] because Yeah, you go to the grocery store. There's that one item or that one fruit or vegetable that everyone is suddenly buying.
They have to increase the price because more people, more money.
Dr. Sugerman: Yes.
It's called supply and demand.
Oren: I was always thinking the more people you can put the less money it's going to stay the same. When I looked at it now, if they make it higher and people keep buying it, then they're going to get even more money.
But then most, but then some people may, may stop buying it because of how expensive it is.
Dr. Sugerman: It's true. You're not going to get as many people buying.
Oren: We're taking a little risk right there.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah. You're not going to get as many people buying like a French bulldog if they like, can't afford it. But, but it's a very high demand dog as well.
So like those tend to be like the ones that you pay more for. Or if they have certain breeding papers, or if their parents were in shows and won a lot. Like those are the dogs again that are gonna, you're gonna pay more for than not.
Oren: And then famous dogs and stuff.
Dr. Sugerman: Famous dogs, yep. So like a lot of those you're gonna pay more for.
Oren: And then same for cats?
Dr. Sugerman: Same for cats. [00:29:00] If it's again, like you have this really high drive for a certain type of cat, you're going to get more money for those cats. Like with servals and, and
Oren: high demand, high cost, low demand, low cost.
Dr. Sugerman: Yes. Lower cost, yeah.
Oren: If it's a lower cost, then more people, then the people who couldn't afford it at its original price may buy it.
Dr. Sugerman: Yeah, so I can't tell you, like, how much you're going to pay for each type of thing.
Oren: Is it in like the hundreds or thousands?
Dr. Sugerman: Sometimes, yeah.
Sometimes they're hundreds, sometimes they're thousands. I've definitely had, there are certain breeds that are in the tens of thousands.
Oren: Are there one or two that are in the millions?
Dr. Sugerman: No. But you do have you do have dogs that you pay for that let's say they've already gone through a lot of training or something.
You do pay a lot for those type of dogs.
Those are your big questions?
Oren: Yeah, that's it.
Dr. Sugerman: Alright, cool. Thank you again, Oren, for coming back on to our Kidsplanation. I thought this was a really good one, like I said, for everybody who's going to be getting those Christmas puppies and kitties coming up soon here,
So we're gonna do [00:30:00] some parts later on for Kidsplanation doing things like you were asking me about.
Oren: Guinea Pigs.
Dr. Sugerman: For small pocket pets.
Yeah, and then also another one.
Oren: And then the exotics like the, like the chameleons. Yeah, yeah. And specifically Leopard geckos. We have one.
Dr. Sugerman: Okay. Sounds good. Thanks buddy. And we'll see you back again on another Kidsplanation. Okay. All right. And as always, you'll make sure to keep your pets happy, healthy, and safe. Thanks guys.
Oren: See ya.
Dr. Sugerman: Thank you guys for listening this week. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or you just want to say hi, you can email me at Suggs, S U G G S @ VetsplanationPodcast.com or visit the website at VetsplanationPodcast.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok at Vetsplanation. Thank you all for listening and I'll see you back here next week.