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A small archive of several recent radio segments with Kaye Browne on Radio 2SM with Ron Wilson and Tim Webster. 2SM is still going through many changes both on and...
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A small archive of several recent radio segments with Kaye Browne on Radio 2SM with Ron Wilson and Tim Webster. 2SM is still going through many changes both on and off air, so while the segments are currently on hold, there is still some great information to be had here for all pet lovers!
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15 AGO. 2025 · *** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #27 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
Full transcript below...
THIS WEEK...
With all the wet weather lately, it's been a bit 'tricky' for dogs to just go outside to relieve themselves right?
Accidents happen right? So is there a way to help fix 'the smell' and stop future 'accidents'?
And with the rising cost of living, research has shown people are starting to prefer cats to dogs.
But there is a surprising breed preference which differs across the country!
PLUS:
Do You Sleep With Your Dog? Ok many of us do, but what's their favourite position?
And finally this week... another talking Parrot, but this one - Mango - got the owner into trouble with the Police just for saying "2 For 25?... 2 For 25? - Wanna Buy Some?" but was the owner actually selling anything?
CHAPTERS:
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'11" - Oh Noo!.. My Dog Just Weed Inside!!
03'16" - People Now Preferring Cats... Why??
05'03" - Do You Sleep With Your Dog?
07'09" - 2 For 25?... 2 For 25? - Wanna Buy Some?
TRANSCRIPT:
TIM:
Yes, time to talk about our pets with our renowned pet expert Kay Brown. Hi. Good morning. I don't know about renowned. Oh, you're renowned. Well, look, I haven't experienced this of late, but I did have it with a dog I had some years ago, and there's been a lot of wet weather and there's going to be for the next little while, and the hazards of your dogs, I suppose, especially your dogs, because you'd have a of weeing inside yeah? KAYE: Yes, it's a real problem. And, you know, we can joke about it, call it a ‘pee-dickerment’ if you like. It really can affect a lot of us really, really badly. And in fact, sometimes animals get surrendered because of that. In fact, I heard from long time friends actually who have two beautiful King Charles Spaniels who normally love to go walkies. But when it's wet outside, they suddenly forget how to go to the toilet outside and they pee on a particular spot on the rug. And they've tried sprays, didn't know what to do. So they put their hand up and said, help! And I'm sure they're not alone. So some of the latest things as to what can be used. And I've got a couple of ideas, but they're all based around enzymes. But there are a couple of other things that we can look at as well. But first of all, to help with the actual urine smell or the poo smell, if they've done another accident. Years ago, it used to be, they'd say, put some bleach on it, well, that's the wrong thing to do because the ammonia attracts dogs back to that spot. So definitely don't use that. You can make a homemade mix of peroxides and baking soda and a little bit of dish detergent. But really, why do that when a lot of scientists have actually looked into making products that actually work to provide natural substances to eliminate the uric acid crystals that dogs deposit. And basically they digest those smells and gets rid of them altogether. And there's one called Pet Lab that I can certainly tell you about. Very, very good. TIM: Yeah. I wonder if that's an issue with smaller dogs in particular. My son's got a little Pomeranian and she's got some health issues and he puts out those little pee pads, which she uses and they can be trained to do that, can't they?
KAYE: Absolutely. And in fact, any dog can be trained to go on anything. And you can get those sort of artificial toilets, which came out a couple of years ago, where they actually are inside a plastic tray and then the artificial turf can be washed. Mind you, you do have to make sure you're using some kind of enzymatic to wash it out. But the pee pads do it and they're often used as temporary toilet training. But it's really handy if you can actually persuade your animal to toilet on command. And mine, we came up with the phrase, ‘empty the dog’, which we do whenever we were about to go in the car so that they would rush out, empty on the grass, ready to go in the car or whatever or overnight. And that was really handy because when they got older and we needed to get a urine sample at the vets, I remember this vet being absolutely amazed when I simply said, empty the dog, and quickly put the little container underneath and voila, we had a perfect fresh specimen.
TIM: There you go. That's fascinating. Now, this is very interesting. New data suggests we're gravitating more towards having a pussycat rather than a puppy dog, and it could be for an economic reason. And I get that, yeah?
KAYE: Yeah, definitely. This information has come out in the study by one of the big insurance companies, Petsy, where they actually looked at the type of cats that are being insured and the numbers that are being insured around the country. And they found that, yeah, the numbers are growing. Now, more Australians are choosing pets that suit compact living, tighter budgets, flexible working arrangements. And so, of the 5.3 million pet cats, basically a third of all households now actually have a cat, and that started during the pandemic.
TIM: Ah, yes, of course. Of course, yeah. KAYE: A lot of rescues were there. But what's absolutely fascinating is the actual breed of cat. Now, we've seen all the designer dogs, what about designer cats? Well, they're increasing in popularity. But right around the country, all the states and territories, bar one, it's the domestic short-haired cat that's the most popular. And it's the most hardy, to be perfectly honest, except in the Northern Territory. And this is amazing to me because it's really hot up there, but in the Territory, they really love their ragdolls.
TIM: Are they the ones that just pretty much sleep all the time? They sit on your lap?
KAYE: Well they have a habit of wanting to sit on your lap. They're very affectionate. They don't talk a lot, which is handy for some people who don't like meowing. But they have this habit of going, oh, I'm so relaxed. And that's why they're called ragdolls. TIM: Yeah, never had a ragdoll cat. We had Freddy the Burmese, and he was a chocolate Burmese. He was a beautiful cat. Now, speaking of Freddy the Burmese, he used to sleep at the end of the bed. I had a chihuahua, little ‘Peppy’, who used to sleep down at my feet. You wouldn't even know he was there. But sleeping with the dog and the big dogs I've had might get up on the bed to say hello, then they get too hot and get off. But there's surprising stats about how many people actually do have the dog on or in the bed.
KAYE: It is quite amazing. I was surprised because I've seen a couple of studies over the years. I saw one that was way back in 2018. And then I thought, oh, I wonder if the same people have done more studies. And indeed, they have. Canisius College, which is in Buffalo in the US, did a study based on stuff they'd done earlier just to see what the impact is of sleeping with a dog, or more than one. And they actually got more than 1,000 Australian dog owners between 18 to 78 and asked them, does your dog sleep in the bed? And if so, where does it sleep and what impact? So 49% of those 1,000 dog owners said, yep. 20% said it sleeps in the same bedroom. But the 49% said it sleeps in their bed. Wow. It thought that was pretty interesting.
TIM: That's more than interesting. That's staggering to me. Half. Goodness me. Wow. KAYE: Exactly. And it's quite interesting. The author of the study, Christy Hoffman, said it's one of the few studies that really looks into the overnight habits, I guess, of our cohabiting with our dogs. And they used previously just a record where they asked people to remember or they tracked their activity. But this time around, they used heat map images. So they determined that in most cases, when there were two people in the bed, if it was a double, a queen or a king-size bed, the dog tended to sleep at their feet or in the middle of the bed. Whereas one person, one dog sharing a bed, the dog mostly slept at human chest level where a human partner might sleep. Goodness me.
TIM: Yeah, that's surprising research. It really is. Wow. More than half. That's a bit staggering to me. Yeah. All right. Now this one, just about everybody who watched television last night saw those hilarious pictures of the dancing parrots doing a very good impression of Elaine on Seinfeld. But this little story you've got is not so cute and cuddly, hey?
KAYE: Well, in some ways, but not for the owner of this particular little bird, Mango. Mango was videotaped by his proud owner doing a little dance as well, where he was saying, two for 25, two for 25. And I'm not quite sure what Mango was referring to, but cops that actually saw the video certainly knew what it was and they staged a raid. And they found that Mango's owner was a drug dealer.
TIM: There you go. Two for 25. So that's what, 12.50 - I wonder what he's trying to flog?
KAYE: I don't know. But now he'll be selling the bird. No, I'm not going to tell you.
TIM: Now the bird will be for sale for sure yeah.
KAYE: I think so. Hopefully he has a new owner that actually stays within the law. TIM: That's the one. Naughty Mango. Lovely to talk to you, Kaye. Talk to you next week.
KAYE: Absolutely. Kaye Browne and your pets.
5 AGO. 2025 · THIS WEEK...
Well it's August and that means it's Dental Health Month - have you had your pets teeth checked yet? Most vets also offer discounts during August/September to help ensure your pets health stays on the good side!
Also this week:
A listener question from Anna in Sydney asking "why does my cat push stuff of the table or kitchen bench"? Kaye explains some of the reasons.
PLUS:
When dogs bark or whine or even groan, what are they actually trying to say to us?
And we've all heard of talking Parrots, but did you know 'Nigel' - got lost and was found years later actually speaking Spanish!
CHAPTERS:
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'16" - Dental Health Month - August
01'44" - Why Do Cats Push Stuff Off?
03'49" - Dog Speak... What Are They Saying?
06'52" - A Parrot That Speaks Spanish!!
28 JUL. 2025 · THIS WEEK...
A proposed 'law' in the ACT would require all dogs to have a minimum of three hours of human contact daily! But how would it be monitored?
Plus...
Remember the movie '101 Dalmatians? Well 'Krypto The Superdog' has re-ignighted dog adoptions!
Also this week... It's coming up to Pawgust 2025. Find out how you can help Guide Dogs AU raise some more valuable funds for future traing..
And...
Imagine a parrot chatting with Alexa... What could possibly go wrong!!?
Full transcript below...
CHAPTERS:
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'09" - Proposed Law Re Minimum Time To Spend With Dogs!
02'05" - Dog Adoptions Increase Due to Krypto The 'Super-dog'
03'53" - Guide Dogs - PawGust 2025 - How To Get Involved
05'28" - Rocco The Parrot Loves Using Alexa!
TRANSCRIPT:
TIM: Time for our regular chat about our best friends, our pets, our pets. Here's Kaye Browne. Hi Kaye. KAYE: Good morning Tim.
TIM: Now I had to ask you about this because I thought, really? How much is enough time to spend with your dog on a daily basis? Now is that three hours? A new law, yes I said law, being proposed by authorities in the ACT, and I don't mind being authoritarian, often we follow that in the other states and territories. So really? That's extraordinary. KAYE: That's the proposal. The ACT has always been a little bit out there in terms of its animal welfare laws, and in fact in the ACT they consider that dogs are sentient animals, and this draft bill recognises that dogs can experience pleasure and pain, and that these feelings actually matter a lot.
So the aim of it is to encourage people who perhaps aren't spending as much time as they should be with their dog, perhaps leaving them alone for too long, that they actually think about what they're doing so that the dog doesn't get stressed. Now there's a lady called Associate Professor Susan Hazel from the School of Animal Veterinary Science at the University of Adelaide, who's really right across this kind of thing, who says, three hours when you factor in walks, pats, feeding time, some attention time, you know, maybe three hours would be enough.
TIM: Well, yeah. But a law, I mean for goodness sake, who's going to police a law of how much time you spend with your dog? I mean, I'm going to say as much as you can, and in some days at our house it's a lot more than three hours, and some days it's less. Anyway, that's bizarre.
KAYE: Absolutely true. It's quite bizarre because right around the world, countries are taking more notice of the needs of dogs. You know, we've been genetically breeding dogs to want to be around us more, and of course now they are around us more. So in places like Germany, for example, they actually have a law that requires owners to walk their dogs twice a day for at least an hour each time. Goodness me. I don't know how they police that one either.
TIM: No, of course, yeah. I mean, talk about government in your life. Heavens above. Okay, now I haven't seen the new Superman movie yet. It looks interesting to me, but it's prompted this increase in people wanting to adopt a pooch, which is what we've done, a rescue pooch, just like Krypto. Sounds like a good thing, but is there a downside to that?
KAYE: There could be. If we go back a step, if you think way back to 101 Dalmatians, and I'm sure your listeners remember that, everyone wanted a Dalmatian, not realizing that they stay teenagers for most of their life. So unfortunately, a lot of people that jumped on that bandwagon ended up returning the Dalmatians.
But in that case, they're actually looking at it very seriously because the director and writer of the Superman movie, he actually based Krypto, the adorable mutt in the movie who saved Superman's life, he actually based it on his own rescue dog. You know, he was beginning to regret it when his rescue dog, when he started writing the movie, started eating his shoes, even chewing up his laptop, his furniture. And he apparently said, this is James Gunn, the director, oh, how awful would it be if Ozu had superpowers? So then he started writing the part of Krypto.
So Krypto in the movie is actually CGI, but based on a terrier cross schnauzer. And apparently, that's the kind of breed that people are asking for. You know, this is happening all around the world, not just Australia but also in the United States, a huge amount of interest in people wanting to get a little dog, just like Krypto.
TIM: Just like Krypto. I was saying the other day, I don't think I've watched a Superman movie after the first one, which had Christopher Reeve, and I think Marlon Brando was in that, or he might have been in the second one. But this one sounds interesting. So I'm going to have a look at that. Now, we should say to our beautiful guide dogs of Australia, their annual fundraiser is on next month. And it is next month, Pawgust. Lovely way to put it. 2025, yeah?
KAYE: It is indeed. And this is a great one, because Guide Dogs Australia do wonderful things for people that otherwise would be basically trapped at home. So there's lots of puns on their website, and I'll give you the name of the site shortly, and people can go there and sign up. You don't have to wait till next month to get started. But the whole idea is that it's a free thing to enter. You don't even need to have a paw.. sorry a dog to participate.
You literally sign up, register online, and choose to walk or run your target distance. 50 Kilometres 100, 125, share your fundraising page, and ask your friends and family to help sponsor you. The idea is that it helps with the cost. It costs $50,000 and more for each individual guide dog. And they have hundreds of them that not churn out, but they get out and about each year. So if you're particularly interested, I'd suggest you go there because you can also win prizes. They've got three lucky participants who will win a year's worth of Blackhawk dog food. That's about $1,500 each.
And there are other bonus things like beanies, t-shirts, drink bottles, things like that. So it's a good place to go, and all you have to do is go to pawgust.com.au. TIM: pawgust.com.au Now, this is a funny story. Tell us about Rocco the parrot that listened very carefully to his parents and was able to copy their voices completely, because they're very clever parrots.
KAYE: African grey parrots are amongst the cleverest in the world. I think there was a YouTube video of a parrot that really had a vocabulary of a young child. This particular one called Rocco was listening to his owners who happened to be carers from a sanctuary where Rocco was banned from because he had choice language. What Rocco did in his new home was he went, I can see what they're doing. So he started calling up Alexa.
And the owners didn't know that this was happening until packages started turning up at their doorstep. Oh, fantastic. You know, we haven't been buying all these things. And they said, yes, you have. Yes, you know, we have the voice recording.
TIM: That's great. That's priceless. Rocco, God bless you. By the way, where did Rocco pick up the bad language from his parents?
KAYE: Well, presumably the parents who then rented him to the sanctuary in the first place. But, you know, he got his snacks coming along very nicely. He had favourite strawberries, broccoli, watermelon, even ice cream. He was ordering through Alexa. TIM: That's just fantastic. Oh, Rocco. God bless you, son. We should we should do it. Do you want to do the Alexa voice?
KAYE: Okay. Okay. TIM: Let's do it. Hello, Alexa.
KAYE: Yes, Rocco. How can I help you?
TIM: It's snack time. The usual.
KAYE: Okay, Rocco. Will, you have your usual snacks of strawberries and broccoli. What about raisins this week?
TIM: How about pate and yes, truffles? Let's really rack this bill up. I think that, okay, I just think that's one of the most priceless things I've ever heard. That's brilliant.
KAYE: Well, the owners now have a pin code and they're just hoping and praying.
TIM: For God's sake, don't mention the pin code at home because you'll learn that too. That's that's just fantastic. Lovely to talk to you. Now, if you'd like Kaye to solve a pet problem for you, by all means to send it to us, send it on the, you can send it to me if you like, tim@2sm.com.au or just 2sm.com.au and we'll discuss it with you next week. That was lovely, Kaye. Thank you. Great fun as always. KAYE: Thank you.
TIM: Kaye Browne.
22 JUL. 2025 · THIS WEEK...
Recently a 5 year old child was bitten while she and her mum were visiting friends. The child’s ok but authorities are considering whether the dog should be put down? Should they?
Plus... Imagine being fined $100,000 because YOUR dog injured another - what happened?
Also this week...
Imagine taking your dog with you on an aeroplane... not in the cargo hold but NEXT to you!
CHAPTERS:
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
04'38" - Kids & Dog Bites - How Can We Keep Them Safe?
02'53" - Dog Owner Fined $100,000 for Injury To a ShiTzu
04'27" - Flying With Dogs – Fancy Sitting Next To A Rottie?
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
TIM: Time for one of our regular chats about our beloved friends, our pets, and here is of course Kaye Browne. Hi Kaye!
KAYE: Good morning Tim.
TIM: Look, I'm pleased you're bringing this up. We actually mentioned it on the air ourselves, the five-year-old child bitten while she and her mum were visiting friends. Now, child's okay, but then you say, authorities are considering whether the dog should be put down, and my point that I'm, always prone to make is, it's hardly ever the dog, it's usually the owner, but these situations are difficult.
KAYE: Every situation is difficult like this, and just to put it in perspective, for the last 25 years that I've been talking about dog bites, the number of bites hasn't decreased or increased, so it's still, around the same. Now, they brought in breed-specific legislation saying they will cut down dog bites, it hasn't, so what you're saying is absolutely true, that usually it is something to do with supervision.
Now, even the nicest dog can bite if their warning signs aren't picked up. A chihuahua can bite, unsupervised children. Now, I'm not saying this child was unsupervised, but they can accidentally hurt a dog. I've known of a dog that had a pencil poked in its ear and it turned around and went ouch, and kids act in a way that dogs find quite threatening. They're erratic, they have jerky movements, and they tend to squeal and run, and that activates the prey drive.
So, there's actually some door-cam vision of the aftermath of this bite, and you can actually see there's two dogs, and the second dog's also being held quite forcibly by an adult because it looked like it wanted to get in on the action. Now, that can happen because dogs, if they've also been, playing with each other and they normally do have a bit of a rough tumble, if one of them doesn't want to keep playing and tries to pull away, well, the other dog can sometimes have what's called a redirected aggression, and that could have happened in this case.
We don't know, but just very briefly, most of the hospitalizations are bites to kids under the age of five and the elderly. unfortunately, the kids, they put them in hospital just in case for a lot of the time, but elderly, it can be they're knocked over by dogs. So, I guess the key in this instance is to supervise, supervise, supervise, and if in doubt, move out of the way.
TIM: Exactly. Let's make the point again because we should make it often. All dogs, as you say, can and will bite if the situation occurs. They just will, you know.
KAYE: They will, but you'll be pleased to know that GSDs, German Shepherds.
TIM: Ahh yes. Little Ellie, yeah.
KAYE: Very rarely get shown in dog bite stats. Now, in the old movies, they used to be, an aggressive looking German Shepherd, but in fact, barely 4% of dog bites come from German Shepherds.
TIM: Well, when I look at that little dog of ours face, I mean, you wouldn't think she would. However, going to say it again, all dogs can and will bite. And listen, just supplementary to that, it's cost this dog owner a lot of money. They've been convicted and required to pay $100,000 to a Sydney Shih Tzu owner whose pet, god, lost a leg and only just survived after attacked by another dog off leash. Is that fair?
KAYE: Well, what do you think?
TIM: $100,000 is a lot.
KAYE: It's a lot of money, but we're not just talking payment for, vet bills and things like that. This went to the New South Wales District Court, which looked into the circumstances of this attack five years ago, and then at the effect that it's had on both the dog and the owner in resulting years. And in this case, the owner of the little Shih Tzu has suffered severe psychological trauma. She hasn't been able to work as much.
She doesn't like going out of the house because she's terrified that another large dog will come barreling up and knock her over and bite her like this other one did. So, the judge ruled that, this poor woman is undergoing continuing PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and well, the owner of the other dog didn't have it under control. And all dogs have to be under control, whether they're off leash or not, and have to pay.
TIM: Right. Well, there’s consequences. I mean, everyone should realise that, shouldn't they?
KAYE: They certainly should. And that's what I guess the councils have been trying to say, progressively the fines have been going up. And I’m hoping that we will eventually see a decrease as more and more people do the responsible thing and actually supervise their dogs.
TIM: All right. Now, this one's actually funny. If you want to have your dog or your pet sitting next to you, not down in, and I watch, I saw that Seinfeld episode. So I tend to watch that if I'm looking for something else, where Jerry meets that guy on the plane and he's drunk, and they get him to get Jerry to look after the dog called Farfel. And it's just one of the most hilarious episodes of all time. But the Italians might let you have your dog sitting up with you yeah?
KAYE: Yeah. Prego, prego. Mamma mia. This is a world first. Now, earlier this year, we heard that Virgin Airlines is considering allowing small dogs and cats under eight kilos to be allowed to come onto planes in soft-sided crates and travel under the seat in front. But the Italians have gone one step further and they're allowing dogs bigger than 18 kilos to actually go in a crate in the seat next door.
TIM: Unbelievable. Really?
KAYE: This is a wonderful thing, because sadly, over the years, I've had to report on dogs freezing in the cargo hold. Yeah. Or accidentally strangling themselves or, their water bowl got knocked over or they've been offloaded somewhere. So, there are a lot of people who would love to have their dog travel next to them.
TIM: I'm just wondering how I'd go with sitting in the aisle seat, sitting with a Rottie next to me.
KAYE: Jessie's dog!
TIM: Yeah Jessie's dog. Just a quick one, too. Don't want listeners to think we're ignoring pussycats. This is interesting. Pets' emotions. What happens when they lose a lifetime best friend and how we can help them cope with that? This is interesting.
KAYE: This is a very interesting one. And it's not the first time I've heard about this kind of thing. There was a little cat called Smokey, whose lifelong partner, Felix, passed away. And the owners noticed that Smokey wasn't really eating, moping about, looking really unhappy, looking at the door, constantly looking as though he wanted to dash outside to look for his friend because he was missing his dog.
After about a month of this, the mother was away on a work trip and when she got back, she walked inside and found that her husband had come up with a possible solution. She found a chap online who did cat portraits, not at the height you'd expect for humans, but at cat level. There were a whole lot of photos. There's a cat bed in the hallway, there's a beautiful fishbowl scene by his food dish, and there's even an amazing piece of a cat lounging on a vintage car.
TIM: (Laughing!!)
KAYE: And Smokey's been walking around his own personal art gallery.
TIM: Happy as Larry, or happy as Smokey.
KAYE: Yeah. Yeah. That is so cool. He started purring again.
TIM: That's so cool. I love it. I love it. All right. Now, if you would like Kaye to help solve your pet issue, very simple, send me an email if you like, Tim@2SM.com.au or simply 2SM.com.au. And where can the listeners find you, Kaye?
KAYE: They can find me at www.VETtalkOnLine.com.au
15 JUL. 2025 · *** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #23 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
THIS WEEK...
Dogs love to smell don't they?... But what motivates them and can you train your dog to do 'Scent-Work'?
PLUS...
Some people think they just have to fill a bowl with kibble or a can of dog food – and think - that’s enough? Dog’s fed, he/she will be fine… really? So what about bones, are they actually ok for our dogs?
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'40" - How Smells (Scents) Affect Our Dogs!
04'10" - Chewing Bones... Are They Ok For Our Dogs?
TRANSCRIPT:
TIM: Well, with all of the drama going on in the world, of course, there’s one thing you can rely on, and that's your pet. Well, you know, just on that, our new rescue, Ellie, who's adorable, and you get home and you've had a long day, and down she comes down the stairs, tail wagging, and wants to give you a lick, and, you know, welcome home, Dad.
I mean, it's a very comforting thing, and we love them, don't we? The world begins and ends with us, with them, and so how do we make life better for them? And it's something I suppose we all think about doing as much as we can. Well, we promised you last week the latest, best scientific stuff on bones and chewing. We'll do that.
They're all good, but they're all kinds of chews that you can use with your pets. So let's have a yarn to Kaye Browne, from VETtalk Online, whose company provides the latest and the best helpful hints on your pets and for your vets as well. G'day.
KAYE: Good morning to you. TIM: Good morning to you. Now, I think this is a fascinating one when you talk about scent work. I mean, how good is your nose? We're not talking about determining a Shiraz from a Pinot, but rather we lucked out compared to our canine friends. But haven't they got a fairly acute sense of smell, canines in particular?
KAYE: Oh, absolutely, their sense of smell is like 300 million times better than ours. Yeah, right.
And I always think it's amusing when people say, put your hand out so the dog can smell you. The dog smelt you the minute you entered the room.
TIM: Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? Because when we do put our hand out so the dog knows who you are. Yeah, they know you are already.
KAYE: They do and do. But we can actually take advantage of that smell-ability, if you like, by actually doing scent work. And if you haven't heard about this, you can do it at the Northern Suburbs Dog Training Organization. They do it regularly and it's a great thing because you know how we try and counter condition our dogs towards not being fearful of things and don't worry if you see another dog, but their brain isn't really always on the job. Whereas if we rewire their reactive behaviour through their nose work or through their nose, through scent work, then they'll actually feel a lot happier. Now, what happens is that they are trained to find initially pieces of food, but then it progresses to finding particular scents on cotton buds. I know this sounds weird. They feel a sense of success when they actually find the right thing and get told, yes, you've got this. You've got the most amazing sense of smell because they basically are running the game. It's a very, very good tool. A lot of people say that the dogs that are doing scent work actually sleep better, they're calmer and they feel very confident instead of very anxious because they know they can do something really well and it's fun for them. TIM: Yeah, right. By the way, is that dog training centre, the one up at St. Ives, is that still there? Same one in Sydney?
KAYE: Yes, that's still there, the St. Ives one. I used to do MC, the Doggy Days there with my husband. But yes, the NorthernSuburbsdogtraining.org.au is the place where people can go and check out when they're doing the scent work classes. But it really is a good thing to do.
TIM: Yeah, interesting, we bought, actually not for Ellie, our rescue, but for my son's dog, one of those little devices and you put their biscuits in it and they have to figure out how to knock the thing over so the biscuits come out the little hole. And I would imagine that's based on scent too, wouldn't it be?
KAYE: It's based on scent and it also activates part of their brain that says, okay, I've got a problem here, I need to solve it. And like all of us, we like to solve things, so it's the scent that's also working out how they can push the button to get the treats out.
TIM: Yeah, clever, isn't it? I mean, and their noses, aren't they, I'm thinking, are always going. And it's the first thing they do when they approach anything, that nose goes and they have a sniff and try and figure out what it is, I guess is what they're doing, is it? Yeah?
KAYE: They are indeed. They're solving problems and when they're solving problems, they're not getting into trouble!
TIM: Now, and this is an issue that I'm sure all listeners have had with their pets, their dogs in particular, chewing. So, I mean, chewing in a healthy way to eat their food, but there's a lot of dogs who chew, is that a nervous thing they do when they pick up your shoe and chew that up and pick up anything and give it a chew?
KAYE: It's almost an innate thing. You see, dogs have evolved in the wild to be able to survive by grabbing onto things with their teeth, chomping down and then ripping it apart so they can actually eat. So, you know, millions of years, I guess, probably that's an exaggeration, but the dog's innate desire to chew is so strong that a number of research papers have actually found that they'll invariably find something to chew on.
Now, there's been a group of seven veterinarians have actually gone to the trouble of actually checking through the existing research papers and there are 205 of them that they looked at, so, that took a lot of research to look into why dogs chew and is it really good for them?
In a nutshell, you don't have to read it because there's 21 pages in this report I've done it for you, is that yes, it does bring huge health risks but also some potential problems, so, you know, part of the thing is choosing the right thing for them to chew on and supervising them. And it's really important particularly for very young animals to chew because when they get to about six months, their adult teeth are going to come through and they need to be chewing on something hard otherwise they're going to pick your beautiful Louboutin shoes.
TIM: Yes, we've had a couple of pooches who did exactly that. And that thing, and Ellie does it, where she grabs a ball that's got a squeak in it, like a squeaky toy, and to hear that squeak they'll just, yes, go and get it when you throw it and then really give it a good chew, are they hearing for the squeak or they just like chewing the ball?
KAYE: That's actually activating the prey drive. And I had just one of my dogs had a really, really great fondness for a Tickle Me Elmo, I got it second hand somewhere, and he would make Tickle Me Elmo giggle, giggle, giggle, he loved that sound. And he loved any of the squeaky toys with a chew in it and he would actually chew it until he could get the squeaky out and then it wasn't any interest anymore.
However, the research that's just been done into the, you know, it's got a complicated name, the Functional Significance and Welfare Implications of Chewing in Dogs, but they actually found that giving bones, particularly bones that still have some cartilage or meat on them, not only satisfies dogs' sense of smell, but they actually really like chewing on something.
You've probably seen this with your own dog they love to hang on to the bone between their paws and then they can actually get their teeth into that sort of knobby, rounded bit at the ends, which is really good as they try and chew and to get a little bit of that marrow. And the trick is don't let them eat all the marrow or they might get the runs because it's very fatty.
TIM: That’s right, Kaye's VETtalk Online and provides the latest and best advice as you just got then for pet owners and for vets. Always lovely to talk to you, Kaye thank you. KAYE: No worries, Tim, same!
TIM: Kaye Browne
8 JUL. 2025 · *** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #22 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
This week:
Some medications for our pets can be very helpful, but how long should we keep them on them and is it safe to stop their meds?
And Spiders!... Is there an easy and safe way to keep them out of the house?
Also this week...
Cats might seem to be able to look after themselves, but sometimes 'stuff happens'...
How can we make sure they stay safe, especially during winter?
PLUS:
Irresistible training treats – what really works for dogs, cats even birds!
00'00" - Welcome Tim Webster and Kaye Browne
00'09" - Pet Medications... Should We or Not?!
03'52" - How Can We Safely Keep Spiders Out Of The House?
06'39" - Cat-astrophic Dangers For Cats! Tips To Keep Them Safe
08'38" - Bones... Should We Give Them To Our Dogs?
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Seg-22-Edit.mp3 Transcript TIM: Ok let's talk pets. Everybody loves talking about their pets, don't they? And here's Kaye Browne. Hello, Kaye.
KAYE: Hello Tim how are you?
TIM: I'm good. You know, it was bring your pet to work day or maybe just Jesse decided it was. She brought. She brought moon the Rottweiler in just the sweetest dog in the world. So we we love talking about our pets, don't we? Because we love them to death, don't we? Yeah.
KAYE: We do indeed. And we've talked about Moon in the past because Moon had a rough start too, with wanting to escape. So yeah, Jesse has definitely talked about Moon and gotten help for Moon. So how's your dog doing?
TIM: Yeah well, I'm just gonna add to that with our rescue, Ellie, because she was very anxious when we first got her. She's a rescue. And ohh look, I won't go into her circumstances at such a long story, but she was very anxious when she came home, but over a couple of weeks she has calmed down quite a lot. But if I could jump to that story about whether or not to medicate them, and there's a bit of controversy about that and where the reason they might be anxious in the 1st. But she was on medication Ellie, when we first got her, and then we decided we'd gradually wean her off. Now we've done the right thing or not?
KAYE: Weaning her off any medication slowly is definitely the right thing. Was it Fluoxetine commonly known as Prozac? or, you know, another common name.
TIM: Yeah, yeah. OK, so do we get a bit selective with the use of the drugs or can they be I mean ongoing, if you continue to have the problem with your pet?
KAYE: Yeah, look, it's unfortunate that in some ways our dealings with pets mirror what's happening in the human world and medication use is up in both humans and in dogs. In fact, it's definitely one of the third most highest selling prescription medications, but with good reason, because without it, our pets can be so anxious that it actually shortens their life, they get so worried about everything about their owners going away about other animals, their quality of life is hampered, so if your little Ellie is doing well around you and you're obviously very calm and gentle with her and it's just building that trust bit by bit, seeing how you go and if need be, you can go back on it, but you know, if she's doing well, eating well exercising and appears to be sleeping well, I think you're doing the right things.
TIM: Ohh, she's doing all of those things, I mean because she loves her ball and you can just see almost the look on her face to say, well, this is a different environment, but these people are pretty cool and we've gradually taken off and yes, she yeah, she's doing all those things he eats well, loves her exercise, and then he's quite happy now to settle and relax when she first arrived, not so much, so yeah, work in progress, work in progress. And look, we should say too and it's, you know, it's a horrible thing to say a lot of pets are surrendered, dogs in particular surrendered and euthanized, because they are ultimately untrainable, or people think they are aggressive or that.
KAYE: Yeah, absolutely. Professor Paul McGreevy, who you might have heard of. He's the head behaviourist at the University of Sydney vet school, and he's done a lot of work on behaviour, and I've been lucky enough to talk to him many times. And he says a lot of the time it's the owner that needs fixing. So if you are going to have a pet on medication, the other thing you need to do is actually get some advice from a fear free trainer or a professional dog trainer so that you can actually do that at the same time as the medication, otherwise it's no point just giving a pill and you know if they've got separation anxiety, just leaving them home alone, so it's about changing the environment, changing the behaviour and that way we'll have less dogs being surrendered, and more happy, healthy, long-lived dogs.
TIM: Yeah, and the wonderful companions that they are, like beautiful little Moon, the adorable little thing she is, well, she's not that little. She's a Rottie, but she's gorgeous. Now just away from puppy dogs and on to spiders, and some people are absolutely terrified of them. We've had the shortest day of the year, but there's still plenty of winter left as we know, July, August can be terribly cold. What do we need to be concerned about to keep the creepy crawlies out of the house? Whhhoo yeah, I know.
KAYE: Well, just like us, we the spiders like to have a nice warm spot for winter, where there's a source of food and water funnily enough, because spiders can eat up to four times a day, but they can also go several weeks without actually eating because they can go sort of into hibernation. So, the thing is to try and avoid having sources of food like insects, flea, and any of those sort of little invertebrates cos’ spiders are really good hunters and they actually help us out by, you know, keeping the surrounds around our home, insect free but taken to extremes, we really don't want to have them inside and particularly not those ones that might bite.
TIM: Yes, yes, yeah.
KAYE: We don't want those.
TIM: Yeah, and it's true too, some countries actually think they're lucky spiders, don't they? KAYE: They do indeed. In Greece, for example, they think that if you see a spider, it means money is coming your way. I go looking for spiders every Thursday before Powerball but hasn't worked for me yet. TIM: Yeah. LAUGHS!
KAYE: And in Victorian England, a spider on a wedding dress meant good luck for the happy couple, and a lot of people throw spiders out, but my mother always said just gently put a spider outside or else it'll rain. We've had enough rain. I think people should gently put spiders outside, rather than squish them.
TIM: Oh, absolutely. I actually I'll tell you a quick story, we do get the occasional Huntsman, some of them, you know, size of a dinner plate and they're just the Cocker spaniels of the spider world we think. And we do that you know put them under a colander and take them outside but people can be terrified of them because they're so big and they will bite you but only if they're challenged, so it depends on the spider, but Kaye, as you and I both know, some people, it's just a full stop. Spiders. No, that's it. Hate them.
KAYE: Hey, there's a couple of other quick things I can help you with, peppermint works quite well at repelling spiders. Lemon doesn't, so you can use the essential oil. They also don't like music, classical music or even electronic dance music.
TIM: Ohh bless them. They don't like electronic music now I love my Huntsman even more. But the trouble with that is Kaye, I've got to put up with playing it.
KAYE: Well, there is that because I don't think they make headphones for spiders. TIM: Yeah. Now that's the spiders. It is the winter time, and some dangers for our pets. We simply need to warn the cat owners, there are the catastrophic dangers if their pets choose to snooze in the washing machine or dryer, what a terrible story that was.
KAYE: Ohh yes, but this one fortunately has a happy ending. I definitely like those. A little Burmese kitten, a nine month old kitten, snuck into the owners front loader washing machine and unbeknown to the owner, turned it on, well the cat didn’t turned it on, the owner turned it on to a cleaning cycle which is cold water and soap, so at least it wasn't hot water, but it went for 55 minutes.
TIM: Yeah, so how many of its lives did it use up 8?
KAYE: I think it might have it. It also lost a couple of toes, but it's absolutely doing brilliant well. So now the owner is, I guess, warning other people to watch out for things like that I've personally seen in the past that cats love to sit on car bonnets, when you know the owner, has just arrived home and it's still warm, and sometimes they'll even try and sneak in underneath the bonnet so there's been lots of stories of cats, having gone for a long drive with their owner not knowing they were under the bonnet, so the answer to that is really just make sure you've got somewhere nice and cosy up high because they do like to watch from above and they've got a nice warm place for winter to sleep.
TIM: Ohh, they love the warmth our recently deceased, but he was 16 Freddy the Burmese, we got a slow combustion and Freddy would sit on the hearth and you think to yourself if you stay there much longer you're gonna combust. But he never did. They love the warmth, don't they cats. They really do, yeah.
KAYE: They do yea they do, yeah. And then they sit on us and we enjoyed the warmth from them.
TIM: Great talk next week. Thanks, Kaye. Great to talk to you.
KAYE: Thank you. You too.
TIM: That’s Kaye Browne.
23 JUN. 2025 · *** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #21 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
This week:
Dangerous ‘rat lungworm’ infections in dogs in Sydney are on the rise…research pointing to heavier rainfalls in recent years. Kaye explains what to watch for to keep pets – and people -safe.
Also this week...
Good news in the global fight to find better and cheaper ways to detect cancer earlier! An Israeli-based team has linked AI - artificial intelligence – with dogs impressive sense of smell to create an at-home cancer-screening breath test which is94 percent accurate at detecting early stage lung, breast, prostate, and colon cancers.
PLUS:
Irresistible training treats – what really works for dogs, cats even birds!
00'00" - Welcome Ron Wilson and Kaye Browne
00'09" - Rat Lungworm Infections In Dogs!
02'37" - Dogs Helping Detect Cancer via a 'Breath-Test'
04'43" - How To Motivate Our Pets With Treats
IMAGE:
Rat Lungworm - (c)Dr Michael Nash, SARDI
More information here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-17/rat-lungworm-disease-spike-dog-infections/105408304
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
RON: Time now for our weekly pet segment with Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold. Kaye, good morning.
KAYE: Good morning to you, Ron.
RON: Look at this is a fun thing to talk about at breakfast time, and it sounds absolutely disgusting to tell you the truth, rat lung worm infections, apparently in dogs, it's on the rise, and it's all due to climate change with increased rainfall over recent years, tell us all about it. What have we got to watch out for?
KAYE: Yeah. The good people at the University of Sydney Veterinary Department there have done a big study, probably the very first one that's been done of five years of data to work out exactly when is the highest risk for periods of transmission of this disease, now rat lung worm is exactly what it sounds it is found in rats and naturally in rats, and they go scavenging and they drop their poos everywhere and unfortunately these slugs and snails, which are particularly prolific after lots of rain like we've had, they actually ingest it, and then they in turn are eaten by other hosts like dogs or again, by the rats.
Now in rats it's OK because it goes to their lungs and sounds gross, but the rats survive that. However, if an accidental host like a dog or even a human, and that has happened, hmm, actually ingests this, and then it will go to their brain. It'll die off there because we've got our own immune systems, but the actual dying off effect actually causes terrible headaches and things like that in people and dogs, and can even cause hind limb weakness, which is very bad and very worst cases cause death.
So, you know, they're talking a very serious case here and they looked at the number of cases and found that the biggest number were in 2022, where there were 32 cases in dogs and why this is important is that it gives them a model to actually be able to talk to human doctors as well, and the human doctors and the vets can all talk between themselves and work out the best way of preventing this transmission. So couple of quick things for you. Teach your dogs not to eat slugs and snails. I'm sure your dog doesn't.
RON: No wouldn't go near them. Not without salt. (Laughs!)
KAYE: Yeah, well, you know, some of the other cases that have occurred in humans have occurred because people have eaten undercooked snails. So, you know, and I know the French are fond of snails. And, some restaurants do sell them, but do make sure they're well cooked or avoid them altogether, which would be my choice. And indeed, just make sure that around the yard you try and not have places where slugs and snails can, accumulate and certainly teach your dog. Leave it.
RON: Well, dogs are commonly known as man's best friend, and this new Israeli idea. It combines a dog's very impressive sense of smell with artificial intelligence to create a cancer screening breath test. This is so interesting what a great idea.
KAYE: This is great, this is good news and it's good to get good news on a topic like cancer, because as we know, it's a really hard thing unless it's detected early, you know, the chances of people getting through it are slimmer so this is a brand new thing SpotIt Early.
And basically it uses very simple thing instead of having to have a lab test or have an operation, you get sent a special mask just like we used to wear during the COVID situation, you only have to breathe in it for about 3 minutes to send it back to the SpotIt Early laboratory where well trained beagles sniff various tubes which have masks in them, and if they detect one that actually has cancer cells and it could be anything from lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate, colon cancer, the dog will sit down now where this is really, really clever is that they've now also included AI - artificial intelligence, and we keep hearing disastrous things about AI, but here's something really good, because humans might misinterpret the dog's enthusiasm, perhaps it's just, you know, tired and sitting down, but by using AI, they can determine with incredible success rates whether a cancer has been detected.
So they actually got 1400 people to test this out and amongst those they later on found that 261 of them actually did have cancer. It wasn't detectable any other way, and if they hadn't been found, hadn't the cancers hadn't been found as early it would, have affected their treatment. So it really reduces human error and when it does get underway globally, it should only cost about $25 bucks to g et one of these masks sent out and then sent back and get your results.
RON: What a great idea. Now when we speak to you on a weekly basis, we often talk about using treats as part of a training regime for dogs. Are there any particular things that work well? Treats? I mean, that work well when it comes to dogs?
KAYE: Yeah, dogs, cats, even birds, they kind of work their best when they're motivated to do so. It's a bit like you, you know, if someone said to you and we want you to come in on Monday, but we're actually not gonna pay you on Monday, we'll only pay you for the other days of the week. How enthusiastic are you going to be to get out of bed on Monday?
RON: Hmmm - No. No. Is the answer.
KAYE: Well, that's never going to happen. So it's a little bit like that with our dogs and cats and birds. We can motivate them by finding out what it is that makes them want to do something we want them to do. And that's the key to positive training. Now with some dogs, it could be a piece of carrot with others it could be a nice piece of yummy roast chicken. What does Bailey like best?
RON: Ohh, I think it's well, it's the dried chicken breast that she really goes for.
KAYE: OK. Yeah. Dehydrated foods are great or freeze dried foods like tripe. It stinks to us, but you know, the stinkier, the smellier and the softer in many cases, the better, so cheese is really really good.
RON: Yes, she loves cheese.
KAYE: The key is. That training needs to be really short, sharp and snappy, so don't do it for, you know, half an hour at a time, just a few minutes. You only want to do 8 or 10 repetitions of whatever you're trying to train, or capture or shape the behaviour shape and make sure that you only use the really, really good treats for when they perform extra well, perhaps when they do it extra fast or they’re extra enthusiastic.
And then end your training session on a high so you can make your own treats. I used to dehydrate liver believe it or not. And it stinks. When I had four dogs, but it was a good way of having lots of treats. You can even use you know, those little refillable yoghurt pouches that you have.
You can actually fill that with something like a nice smelly cat food or cat paste with a bit of water and that you don't have to keep getting icky things out of your pocket or your pouch, and you can actually just use that and just squirt a little bit in the mouth when the animal does what you want. And that's a pretty good thing for cats as well, and have variety so that you know they don't get bored.
So there are lots of things in your local pet shops. We'll have some examples for you and just be aware, that if you have to worry about your pets nutrition or their diet if they have a disease, kidney or something like that, do talk to your vet about what they can and can't have and deduct the calories from their daily food portions to account for all these lovely treats.
RON: Yes, I maybe give my dog a little bit too many treats and I get told off all the time for that. All right Kaye, thank you so much as always. Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold with our weekly pet segment.
16 JUN. 2025 · *** RADIO 2SM PET SEGMENT #20 WITH KAYE BROWNE ***
This week:
Finally – we can rest in peace WITH our much-loved pets! New laws in NSW mean it’s now legal to share our grave with our pet’s ashes.
And what puts a smile on lots of dogs’ faces? Rolling in poo! But why do dogs do it? And how to – hopefully – stop it!
PLUS:
Cats – so many secrets – and the biggest one – how they hide getting older. How to help ease their pains and enjoy senior status.
Also this week!
KB’s quick tip to help families train dogs NOT to over-react to knocks at the door.
00'00" - Welcome Ron Wilson and Kaye Browne
00'09" - RIP With Our Pets
02'09" - Why Do Dogs Roll In Poo & How To Stop Them!
04'42" - Senior Cats - What Are They Hiding Health-Wise?
06'39" - KB'S 'Quick-Tips' - Stopping Dogs Barking At The Door!
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
RON: Time now for our weekly pet segment with Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold Kaye, good morning.
KAYE: Good morning, Ronnie.
RON: Look, I know people who will actually want to do this. Finally, we can actually rest in peace with our much loved pets, New laws in NSW mean it is now legal to put your pets’ ashes in with your own. This is quite amazing for a lot of people.
KAYE: It is indeed. It has been a long time coming. There's been a lot of people actively pushing for this because let's face it, pets are now so much a part of our lives and the thought that people can now go to where their pet and their loved family member are either buried together or their ashes are mixed together and it's really, just part of the grieving process that people are allowed to do that so this has only just happened.
I've got a call, a contact from Dr Sam Kovac, who's one of the many vets that I'm lucky enough to know from Southern Cross Veterinary clinic. And he said, he's known for years that people have been sneaking ashes into coffins just because they want their much loved pet to actually rest in peace with their much loved mother or father, human, mother or father. But now it means it's legal and that makes it much easier for cemeteries and crematoria because there are a lot of people that that really want to have this happen.
And Sam actually mentioned that it's a particularly important thing for the homeless, who often don't have much, you know, certainty in their lives, and their pet is their only solid point of contact. Their reason for being, really, and he has a charity called Project Hope, which provides free medical treatments and checks and vaccinations.
And that's for people who are homeless and also for victims of domestic violence. So that's a pretty important charity. But they are going to be absolutely delighted as well, because it means that people don't have to fear being put in the ground and never having their pet join them ever, or their ashes of the pet or their remains so it can take a little bit of working out, but it's happening.
RON: Yeah, such an interesting development. Now I have a question for you. Why do dogs roll in poo their own? And there's another dog anybody. Is it kind of like Cologne for dogs or something? How, how do you, how do you stop them doing that?
KAYE: Au de poo fume!
RON: Au de poo fume. I love it.
KAYE: Yes, you know, experts have long pondered this particular thing, and I've actually pondered it myself on occasion when there's been a pong. As I looked up a bit of information as well. You know a dogs idea of a good smells different to ours. They like the smell of poo. They also like the smell of dead things. I have dogs that unfortunately rolled in a dead fish.
Ohh no. Yeah, that was nice coming home in the car. But yeah, they like dead things, they think the experts think it's covering up the dogs own smell or that they're bringing home proof of where they've been. A bit like a selfie or a postcard to tell the pack hey, guess what I smelt today? So it's pretty social media really, but, it is a bit tricky to stop them now if they're on-lead that's a bit easier, but if they're off-lead oh oh not good so you will get some hint that they're about to roll in too.
So I guess like a lot of things start early and train your dog to leave it, that's a good thing to train. And then if they don't touch or sniff or roll and the thing that they're being told to leave as they obey you they get a treat. So practise on something that's, you know, not too nasty to start off with and practise it and you know pretty soon dogs are smart.
They go hey, if I leave whatever that interesting thing is I actually get a treat and the other quick thing to remember is, in your own backyard, pick up the dogs poo every day.
RON: Exactly!
KAYE: If you spot a dead bird or a dead rodent, you know, pick that up as well, and after a bath, try and dry your pet off well so that they're not tempted to roll in anything something to dry themselves off. It's tempting for them to do that. We've all seen dogs wriggle on their back. Does your Bailey do that?.
RON: Yeah. Yes. I've gotta say, well at this time of year her hair or fur to be a little bit longer and that of course makes this whole problem a lot worse.
KAYE: It does indeed. Well, you know, gotta get the blow dryer out. Blow dry the hair instead of just doing your own gorgeous slot.
RON: You can only watch the dog a couple of times a day, you know. All right, now we were talking back there earlier about having your pet ashes interred with your own, which begs the question is, well, when we come to cats, I mean cats, they do the ageing process very well. They kind of hide getting older, but I'm assuming they need as much help as any other pet.
KAYE: They certainly do, and in fact, they're pretty darn sneaky at hiding things. You know, in the eyes and you see them slowly blinking, which means they really like you by the way you know, they will just quietly go about their business and perhaps you know little problems sneak up on you. So looking at cats, they can be considered a senior around about 10 or 11 years of age, which is when you need to take extra care to keep an eye on them to see what kind of physical or behavioural changes are happening.
For example is their weight changing?. Umm, you know getting are they getting fatter or thinner, are they having trouble jumping up or having problems eating whereas they used to gobble their food down. Are they having vision issues, especially at night time or hearing problems, and are they sleeping more or not grooming themselves? That's a real tell-tale sign. And are they getting a little bit confused, or perhaps going wandering and you know, sort of meowing when they never used to do that because cats get CCD, which is the equivalent of dementia in humans.
There's lots of little things that can be happening inside your cat, and really the only way to tell that is to make sure that you have a really good relationship with your vet. Because they are experts at detecting all these things that you know, if they're detected early like dental disease, arthritis, kidney issues, diabetes. You know, there's a lot that they can do to come up with a treatment plan with you to help your senior your cat live into his or her old age comfortably rather than in pain.
RON: Such a good idea look KB's a quick-tips, I think this is a really good idea. We're gonna start doing this. What's the tip for families whose dogs you know, if somebody knocks at the door, the dog goes absolutely ballistic. In fact, I know Jesse's dog actually almost rips the front door down. But how do you stop them doing that? Or what do you do to deal with sort of thing?
KAYE: This is a good one so you know that you well, perhaps you've scheduled a delivery, or perhaps you've got a friend coming over at a particular time, but your dog doesn't know that. So what happens when they get to the door? You get. WOOF WOOF WOOF!!! They go off, right? It's like Jessie's dog.
RON: Yeah.
KAYE: That’s like Jessies dog, not Bailey, though. Bailey's perfect. OK, what we need to do when they go off, WOO-WOO put them in place. You've been trained to go to their place or go to their crate and sit there and then calmly say to your visitor. Come inside. Don't look at the dog. Don't pat them. Don't have eye contact.
Just sit down and when they're calm, let them out of the crate or you know, let them off the place. And then when they come over and perhaps sniff you looking for attention, then you can gently pat them on the back or under the chin. And then stop.
And then the dog goes well. It's not such a scary monster after all, so they start nudging you for more attention, and it makes the dog think they're in charge. And this person that was at the door that they thought was scary was in fact, a potential source of really nice things like pats.
RON: Hmm. Alright. Well that, that that breaks down the issue to some degree of stopping the dog going crazy at the door, I think that will be a bit of good advice for just about everybody with the dog, quite frankly. Alright, Kaye. Thank you again for this week. Love your work and we'll talk to you again next week. Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold with our weekly pet segment.
10 JUN. 2025 · This week: (Full Transcript below!)
Sydney Councils want tougher fines for unrestrained dogs in public places and owners not picking up their dogs'poo.
Posties under attack - approx. 44 dog attacks a day! Aus-Post will arm all their people with a protective citronella spray by the end of July '25
PLUS:
The avoidable pet health issues costing pet parents big bucks and how to avoid them.
Hint... your Vet can help more than you think.
Finally, the RSPCA Million Paws walk is no more - so how much money did the final ‘walk’ manage to raise?
00'00" - Welcome Ron Wilson and Kaye Browne
00'10" – Councils demand tougher fines uncontrolled dogs & dumped waste.
01'51" - Posties new defence against dog attacks
03'26" - Gastro and Skin issues costing pet owners the most
04'48" - Pet Dental Month benefits extended from June to August
05'59" – Big results for RSPCA Million Paws final Walk
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
RON:
Time to talk animals now on the 2SM and breakfast show with Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold. Kaye good morning!.
KAYE:
Good morning to you.
RON:
Well, you know what dog lovers we are, but I'm very pleased to see this I gotta say, tougher fines for pet owners who don't do do the right thing when they're pet's do the Doo Doo. That's what several big Sydney councils are planning, and those councils are Randwick and Waverley and they're also looking at bigger fines for letting dogs off leash in prohibited areas and for uncontrolled or attacking dogs. I am totally on board with this, I gotta say.
KAYE:
I am certainly on board with it as well, especially when you consider that just across the border in Queensland they've got similar fines of, you know, around $300.00 for not picking up waste, but, their fines for having an uncontrolled dog in an public place are much higher. In fact, they started $1,613 go up to $112,000.
The possibility of three years jail. So that would be for a dangerous dog or one that attacks a child or a human being. And I think that sounds like a reasonable thing to do because right now in Sydney it's the same fee, it's $330 if a dog attacks another dog or a child.
RON:
Well, it makes no sense. And of course we have our friend Peter Clay, who was recently attacked by two dogs and you know, the ongoing effects for that and he's an adult. Obviously, we're not even talking children here, but the ongoing effects for that are quite significant.
KAYE:
Absolutely. And you know the trauma of that lives with people for a long time. And let's face it, there are a lot of occasions now where for some reason people aren't picking up and they're letting their dogs get out and not caring that their roaming, and I'm saying that in particular because Australia Post has got a huge problem with its posties being attacked.
The latest data suggests there's something like 44 dog attacks a day, something like over the last six months, 1,150 posties being attacked. Now the thing is that they're not actually happening as you'd expect when they're going to the front door to get someone to sign for a parcel, these are actually roaming dogs on the street. 57% of these attacks are on the streets, so Australia posts has said enough is enough by the end of July, we're going to arm all our posties with a citronella spray so that they've got some means of pushing the dog back from attacking them. How do you feel about that?
RON:
Well, I know the citronella keeps the mosquitoes away. I never thought of it using it against the dogs.
KAYE:
Well, there are different kinds of citronella, and you know that we do need to be a little bit cautious because dogs can't process ethanol and there's ethanol and some of these sprays for keeping them mozzies away.
But I think the other thing to think about is that, it does give the postie some means of actually thinking about what they're doing and hopefully aiming the spray so that it's not going in the dog's eyes because that can cause them to have runny eyes and to, you know, scratch their eyes and get infected. And they could get a bit of a gastro and we'll talk more about gastroenteritis and how common that is a little bit later.
But you know it is something that we have to think about and people, you know, you get tracking on your Australia post items these days, so if you know you're getting something, you have to sign for, make sure the dog is inside or out the back!
RON:
Well, let's talk gastro and some other things that might affect dogs. We've just got information out from the insurance companies about the past years claims that were made, what seems to be the most common problems that owners take their dogs and cats to the vet with each year.
KAYE:
Well, this is really very interesting. It's remarkably similar in dogs and cats. In dogs, it's skin infections and allergies is number 1 and the average cost of that is something like $650. It can get right up to $21,000. And in cats, the number one problem is gastroenteritis type problems. And the average cost of treating that is something like $900 and it can go up to just under $27,000 and guess what, number 2 with dogs gastro yet again.
So our dog and cats tummies seem to be you know the most at risk and going to cost us the most.
So it's something we should really keep a very close eye on. Gastroenteritis is particularly nasty and when you consider that there's something like 4 1/2 maybe 4.7 million dogs and cats in NSW alone, and about 11% of them in any year have gastro, you know that's a lot of dog poo and dog vomit and dog diarrhoea happening out there!
RON:
Yeah, lovely things. Now June is dental health month in the veterinary world. How do we take advantage of that?
KAYE:
Well, the good thing is that they've made it a little bit bigger this year, June, July and August. It used to be just August, but because dental care is so important for our dogs and our cats, they've extended it at many practices. Now I can't say if every practice is doing this, but 9 out of 10 of them will have special promotions where they'll offer free dental checks.
You bring your pet in and they'll check them to see if there's any redness around the gums, which indicates that there's infection, which could be, you know, spreading around the body and causing problems to your dog or cat's liver or heart or things like that. So it's really good to actually have it picked up, and then they'll often offer a big discount on any procedures that are undertaken, during these months and you know we're talking in dentals costing between $500 and $800 in a dog and roughly the same in cats.
But it's really important because it's going to lengthen their life and make them feel a lot better. Cause let's face it, when your teeth are sore, you tend to get a bit snappy!
RON:
It's all true now. The Million Paws Walk has been and gone for another year. How did they go in fundraising?
KAYE:Well, I think they've gone out with a bang, so well done to all of your listeners and I know your producer Jesse also took part in the final million paws walk. I gather that the final amount that they've got at this stage is $851,700. Which is pretty good because. It was $600,000 last year.
RON:
Yeah, it's a big pickup.
KAYE:
Went right up there, so that's well done. It shows how much we care for our dogs.
RON:
Now, Miss Kaye Browne, I will talk to you again next week in our regular pet segment. I appreciate your time.
KAYE:
Pleasure always.
RON:
Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold.
2 JUN. 2025 · This week:
Tails on our pets are so cute aren't they?... but why do they have them and what do they mean?
And now that winter is upon us, how can we deal with rodents 'safely' - eg; no poisons!?
Also this week... Got a black or dark coloured dog? could you find them if they got off-lead at night?
And 'paw-lickers'... Why do they do it and is it a sign something wrong?
Plus:
Why do dogs howl at sirens! (Check-out Kaye's version!)
00'00" - Welcome Ron Wilson
00'06" - Wagging Tails... What Do They Mean?
01'40" - Dealing With Rodents In Winter
03'35" - Walking Dark Dogs At Night!
04'24" - Why Do Pets Lick Their Paws?
06'02" - Why Do Dogs Howl At Sirens?
Image: Dog Tails Wagging... (c) https://olddoghaven.org/a-tail-of-two-dogs/
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
RON: Time now for our weekly pet segment with Kaye Browne from VETtalk On-Hold... Kaye good morning!
KAYE: good morning to you!
RON: Look in last week's segment we said that we were going to talk about dogs tails and well I suppose cats tails as well really, but I'd never thought about it much before I just assumed the dog wags his tail when it's in a good mood and that's it, but there's more to it than that?
KAYE: Yeah there is quite a bit more to it because tails are just one aspect of body language that dogs use and cats by the way and frankly you know when we meet people when we're out walking or shopping or whatever we don't necessarily like everyone that we meet so we might show it in the way that we're not doing very positive body language so with tails we don't have a tail but dogs can communicate a lot through tail wagging but they can also be very confusing.
You see putting your tail straight up and wagging can mean "Hi I like you and come and play." Or it can mean "I'm just feeling a bit nervous" if they're standing very still. So you can't really look at the tail wag in isolation from everything else but the scientists have now determined really that they're very sensitive our canine friends and our feline friends and tail wagging to the right definitely is a better thing, this indicates friendliness and curiosity. Tail wag to the left not so happy and if they've got their tail tucked underneath them they're very very nervous.
RON: Well I'll keep an eye out... now and Is it the dog's right or my right and it's going to be confusing you know that's the problem with all of this you've got to figure it out. Now last week when we spoke we talked about looking after our pets in this cooler weather but we may have some visitors we don't expect in the furry animal line. You can have rats and mice coming into your house how do we deal with that in relation to the pets that we already have?
KAYE: Yes well don't let them chase them for one thing a girlfriend of mine had spotted a little mouse dash underneath her dishwasher recently and so trying to do the right thing got some of those special catch and release boxes that you can get from your hardware store thinking "Oh she'll do the right thing and go and release it in the wild."
Well it didn't work because pretty soon she saw that the mouse that came in was uh a mother and uh there were 11 more little mice trying to take up residence for the winter so she did try using actual mouse traps in you know the old fashioned kind that we see in the cartoons which unfortunately are more deadly and you know they do knock them out pretty quickly and then you can pop them in a bag in the freezer and put them in the rubbish do not use baits please.
My father's dog got into some poison in the garage one time and had to be rushed to the vet for emergency treatment because even though they say that a lot of the ingredients they use in baits these days are safe if a pet should accidentally ingest them they're not and I'd rather not take the opportunity because it's a pretty nasty sort of a thing.
The baits I don't know if you've ever seen what happens to mice and rats when they take some of these baits, they start to bleed because the chemicals stop them from clotting blood properly and that's indeed what can happen to our dogs and cats if they eat the bait or indeed if they eat the dead rodent that ate the bait.
RON: Yeah it all sounds very nasty doesn't it and another thing that uh we should be careful about in winter and again I'd never thought about this uh it gets dark so early in the evening that if you're out walking the dog after work if you had a black dog with you for instance that's going to be a problem!
KAYE: Yes, when I had my four-pack, unfortunately they are there at the Rainbow Bridge as they call it one of them was a little black poodle and in the dark if I didn't put an LED collar on him I wouldn't have been able to spot him. I wouldn't have let him off the lead mind you but it's actually safer if you get some of these illuminating collars and leads and also put a high viz vest on so that if you're out and about, other people can see you as well and no one's going to get a fright or be accidentally knocked over.
RON: Now a couple of issues that we can talk about are licking paws and even I've seen dogs chewing their paws. What can cause that?
KAYE: Well it's part of some natural behaviours to start off with because you know dogs and cats do it as part of general grooming so it's generally if they're not doing it to excess actually okay but excessive licking or biting can signal that there's something else wrong it could be allergies it could be anxiety it could be poor gut health or even an injury or simply boredom and anxiety because paw licking is actually some sort of self soothing behaviour they say and so if they keep licking their paw they feel a bit more relaxed.
So if your dog is licking for that reason then you need to do more walking and playing with your dog or it could be environmental irritants or it could be something that people have sprayed on grass and then you've walked over it might be a fertilizer or something and unfortunately that's triggered something so the dog is licking at their paws because it's annoying them and their paws then get red and raw and if they don't stop licking them then they can have hot spots and other nasty things so a rule of thumb wipe your dog's paws with unscented baby wipes or even a wet towel if you don't mind having that wet dog smell on your towels, but definitely try and see if you can wipe down their paws and dry them if you come back and they're a bit damp 'cos damp dog smell and damp dogs don't go well happy
RON: That's right now in the past we've talked about things like heavy rain and thunder upsetting dogs but another reaction I see is if they hear a siren dog's howl... what's that all about? KAYE: Oh you mean something like this "AHHWOOOOOO"
RON: No no… that's on the full moon I think I've heard you do that!
KAYE: You promised you wouldn't tell!! oh look it's actually quite fascinating and it's amazing that some dogs do it and some don't. Now a lot of the time they think that it's a form of mis-communication or you know response to a dog thinking "Oh there's another lonely dog out there." It's desperate to find a friend so they howl to try and let that lonely dog know that they're there and they should come over and meet and greet 'cos let's face it they can't you swipe left or swipe right or whatever it is you do to meet dogs
RON: Yeah come on don't pretend you don't know (LAUGHS)
KAYE: So that's the mistaken identity because you know dogs come from wolves a very long time ago and wolves are known to howl over long distances so that they can let people know where they are another theory and unfortunately we tend to reinforce it accidentally is that the dog thinks "Oh there's something wrong.
I better warn my human there's this terribly loud sound." 'Cos they hear much better than we do and so they want to warn us about a possible danger. The problem is the siren goes away and the dog thinks "Aha it worked my howling made that nasty danger go away so if I hear that again I'll howl again." So the cure for that one is to come up with a cue and teach your dog to be quiet on command and then they'll get a nice treat. Does take a bit of training but you can do it.
RON: I'm going to have to get a new bag of treats I'm giving my dog treats for so many things now I don't know where I'm up to Kaye as always very entertaining and informative of course Kaye Browne there with our pet segment Kaye is from VETtalk on Hold
A small archive of several recent radio segments with Kaye Browne on Radio 2SM with Ron Wilson and Tim Webster. 2SM is still going through many changes both on and...
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A small archive of several recent radio segments with Kaye Browne on Radio 2SM with Ron Wilson and Tim Webster. 2SM is still going through many changes both on and off air, so while the segments are currently on hold, there is still some great information to be had here for all pet lovers!
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