"Pet parents ask a lot of great questions. Today we're tackling the ones veterinarians hear most often — and the answers may surprise you."— Julie Schwenzer
Episode summary
This episode is a rapid-fire tour through the questions Dr. LoSasso says pet parents ask most — and a few practical habits that can genuinely keep a pet out of the emergency room. First up: what dogs eat that they shouldn't. Poodle-cross breeds are repeat offenders — Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, Bernedoodles, Sheepadoodles — oddly, standard poodles rarely do this, but nearly every poodle cross will. Socks, bathroom trash, corn cobs, medication, even Q-tips are common finds. Good household management — socks in a hamper, trash covered and out of reach — genuinely prevents a lot of these visits, but when it happens anyway, speed matters: caught quickly, induced vomiting can retrieve the object and avoid surgery entirely.
"We induce a ton of vomiting in emergency practice because they ate somebody's medication, they ate a sock, they ate a corn cob. I had a puppy that ate Q-tips last night. They'll eat things you wouldn't think were food — they're not very discriminating."— Dr. Michael LoSasso, DVM
On vaccines, he points to two as genuinely important: parvovirus in puppies, which he calls absolutely critical (he rarely sees parvo in a puppy that's had at least three doses), and leptospirosis — recently reclassified from optional to a core vaccine. He notes most leptospirosis cases he treats are small, indoor-only dogs, since the bacteria spreads through wildlife urine — raccoons, opossums, squirrels — that can contaminate any yard with trees, whether or not the dog spends much time on grass.
On nutrition, he's candid about his own habits: he fed his dogs a raw diet for a while, but managed the food-safety risk by portioning and baking the raw food before freezing it, so it was only ever handled once rather than repeatedly thawed and refrozen from an open log — the handling, not the raw food itself, is what creates risk for Salmonella or E. coli. He'd never feed bones. And on dog food generally, he flags a common misconception directly:
You're not paying for nutrition — you're paying for branding
Dr. LoSasso feeds his own dog Purina and says higher price doesn't mean better nutrition; it mostly reflects packaging and branding. His guidance: avoid the very cheapest bargain-bin foods, but you don't need the most expensive bag on the shelf to feed your pet well.
He closes on dental care, which he says gets overlooked because the consequences aren't immediate. Gum tissue is heavily vascular, so ongoing bacteria in the mouth can enter the bloodstream and seed the kidneys or the heart valves — he's personally documented cases of bacterial endocarditis traced back to dental disease. Dental chews alone don't solve this; professional cleanings are needed, with frequency depending on the individual pet and breed.
Questions answered in this episode
The following questions are answered by Dr. LoSasso in this episode, drawn directly from the conversation. These are real clinical answers from a practicing emergency veterinarian with 30+ years of experience.
Dr. LoSasso says socks are a huge one, especially in poodle-cross breeds like Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, Bernedoodles, and Sheepadoodles — standard poodles rarely do it, but the crosses often do. Bathroom trash is another common culprit; dogs are drawn to things like corn cobs, medication, and even Q-tips. He stresses that if you get a swallowed object evaluated quickly, inducing vomiting can often retrieve it and avoid surgery entirely.
Dr. LoSasso recommends good basic household management: keep socks in a hamper rather than on the floor, keep bathroom trash covered and ideally inside a cabinet, and stay alert when items get dropped, since a fast dog can grab something before you can react. If it does happen, call your vet quickly and be ready to say what was eaten and how long ago — timing determines whether induced vomiting is still an option.
He highlights two: parvovirus vaccination in puppies, which he calls absolutely critical (he rarely sees parvo in puppies who've had at least three vaccine doses), and leptospirosis, which has only recently been reclassified as a core vaccine rather than optional. He notes most of the leptospirosis cases he sees are in small indoor dogs, since the bacteria spreads through wildlife urine — raccoons, opossums, squirrels — that can contaminate any yard with trees, even for dogs that rarely touch grass.
Dr. LoSasso says the risk isn't the raw food itself — it's the repeated handling. A diet log that's opened, refrigerated, and accessed daily over time creates real opportunities for Salmonella or E. coli contamination if people aren't rigorously food-safety conscious. When he fed his own dogs a raw diet, he portioned and baked it before freezing, so it was only ever handled once. He's also clear he would never feed bones.
No — Dr. LoSasso calls this one of the biggest misconceptions pet owners have. Higher price is largely branding, not better nutrition. He personally feeds his dog Purina, avoids only the very cheapest bargain-bin foods, and says you don't need the priciest bag on the shelf to be feeding your pet well.
Very. Dr. LoSasso explains that gum tissue is heavily vascular, so ongoing bacteria in the mouth can enter the bloodstream and seed the kidneys or the valves of the heart — he's personally documented cases of bacterial endocarditis traced back to dental disease. Dental chews alone aren't sufficient; professional cleanings are needed, with frequency depending on the pet — some breeds, like Schnauzers, may need it several times a year, while others can go every year or two.
JuliePet parents ask a lot of great questions. Today we're tackling the ones veterinarians hear most often, and the answers may surprise you. You've been in emergency practice for over two decades after leaving general medicine — what would be great to accomplish in this episode is asking you questions that might help pet parents avoid having to come see you. What do you run into most often right now, this time of year, in terms of emergency cases?
Dr. LoSassoThere's not a lot of seasonality. The things we see with weather — thankfully we don't see a lot of heat stroke yet, but this is the time of year when we would, as things start heating up. It gets a lot worse around here in August and September than it does in June, and July can be pretty rough depending on the year. We do see more allergic reactions, potentially more snakebite this time of year, although we don't commonly see a ton of snakebite in our area. But the rest of what we see — bloody diarrheas, dogs eating socks, those kinds of things — that's not very seasonal.
JulieIt seems really hard to avoid — if you have a Labrador, one of these vacuum breeds, they might just grab something and eat it. How do you even avoid this?
Dr. LoSassoOh, absolutely. If you've got a poodle cross — a doodle of any kind, Labradoodle, Goldendoodle, Bernedoodle, Sheepadoodle, Aussiedoodle — for some reason, even though standard poodles don't usually eat things, all those poodle crosses will. Some of it is good husbandry: make sure socks get put in a hamper, not left on the floor, because dogs will get into that. We see quite a few sock eaters. We also see a lot of dogs get into bathroom trash — keep it covered, ideally in a cabinet, because you'd be surprised what goes in there that dogs love, things like corn cobs. Even when you're paying attention, things fall, and they're right there on it. We encourage people, if their dog ate something, to tell us how much and how long ago — if you get to it quickly, we can induce vomiting. It doesn't sound pleasant, but if we can get that sock or corn cob back out, we can avoid surgery. Had a dog last night that ate a rat they were worried had been poisoned — that rat probably didn't have enough poison to hurt the dog, but you're better off not having it in there, so we induced vomiting. We induce a ton of it in emergency practice — medication, socks, corn cobs. I had a puppy that ate Q-tips last night. They'll eat things you wouldn't think were food. They're not very discriminating.
JulieNo, they're not. We have two labs, and one — well, she's getting pickier as she's lived with us longer, thank goodness. Now, I know you don't administer vaccines, but would you say keeping recommended vaccinations up to date helps pets avoid coming to you?
Dr. LoSassoAbsolutely, for certain things it definitely helps keep them out of the ER. Puppies being up to date on parvo is absolutely critical — we don't see a lot of dogs come in for parvovirus that have had at least three vaccinations, which is done pretty early. I used to do it at six, nine, and twelve weeks twenty years ago; those recommendations may have shifted since. The other big one for us in this area is leptospirosis, which has only recently been accepted back into the core vaccine category rather than being optional. Most of the lepto dogs we see are little white fluffy house dogs that barely know what grass looks like — clearly indoor dogs. But lepto is a bacterial disease that doesn't care what species you are; it affects people, dogs, cats, raccoons, possums, squirrels, probably rabbits. If you've got those critters in your yard or in the trees over your backyard and they urinate into your yard, your dog is exposed. Your house may not be as safe as you think. In my part of North Texas we've got bobcats and coyotes, but a lot of raccoons and opossums too — if you've got trees, you've got exposure. It's a lot cheaper, easier, and less stressful to vaccinate against lepto than to treat it.
JulieWhat about misconceptions pet parents have about choosing food — raw diets are becoming more popular. Do you see issues in the ER from pet food choices over time?
Dr. LoSassoI don't see a lot of emergencies from food choices directly, but I get concerned, and I think all veterinarians get concerned, with raw diets. I fed my own dogs raw for a while — I'd buy a five-pound log and use different-sized ice cream scoops to portion out meals for the two dogs I had. The issue with raw food isn't that it's raw, dogs can handle raw food fine. It's that you're freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing, and how you handle that. It's coming out of the fridge, going back in the fridge, and people aren't nearly as food-safety conscious as they should be — that's what leads to Salmonella, E. coli overgrowth. Raw diets do let you control ingredients, no cereal fillers, and the amount of waste in your yard drops 75 to 90 percent, which is amazing. At the time I liked controlling ingredients but didn't like the actual raw handling, so although I bought raw food and portioned it as if it would be raw, I put every one of those meatballs on a cookie sheet and baked them — my kids thought we were having meatballs for dinner — then froze them individually. There was never a freeze-thaw issue because once it was done, it was done, and it only got handled once. If you've got a five-pound log you're constantly accessing while refrigerated, handling it every day, that's a lot of potential for contamination. I certainly wouldn't feed bones — not a fan of the BARF diet. As for which dog food to feed, I don't see much on an emergency basis either way. I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that the more you pay for dog food, the better it is for your dog. That's wrong. I'm still a fan of Purina, I don't go for fancy packaging, it's not nutritionally better. I feed my own dog a Purina food — happens to be the expensive vegetarian hypoallergenic one because she's a blue Pit Bull and their skin disease is legendary — but it's still Purina, and they don't pay me anything. I try to avoid the very cheapest stuff, not a big fan of Old Roy, but I don't have a problem with the middle of the road. It doesn't have to be the most expensive bag you can find. You're not paying for nutrition, you're paying for branding.
JulieAnd dental care — would you say a lot of other issues in dogs and cats trace back to the gums and teeth?
Dr. LoSassoIt's not something I necessarily see a lot of in emergency medicine that I could directly blame on the teeth. Think about it — if your dog's teeth are bad, his breath really smells, and you're recoiling from it. Imagine being in his position, tasting that constantly, with a much better sense of smell and taste than ours — that's probably overwhelming for them. But the gums are very vascular tissue, tons of blood vessels, and when you've got that much bacteria right next to the vascular system, you end up with bacteria in the bloodstream that can seed the kidneys or the valves of the heart. Bacterial endocarditis definitely happens — I've documented a couple of cases myself. Kidney disease from it too. It's not going to show up right away, but it will take years off their life. Keep the teeth clean — dental chews alone aren't going to do it, you really need professional cleanings. I used to do my dad's Schnauzers' teeth three or four times a year because that breed has such awful teeth. Some pets can get away with once a year, some once every two years, but it's definitely an important part of maintaining their health.