Summer Pet Wellness: Keeping Your Pets Cool And Mobile | SOP Ep. 126 – Dr. Kelly Fishman

Is the rising summer heat turning your daily walk schedule into a guessing game? Join Janet King and Dr. Alice Jeromin as they sit down with veterinary sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist Dr. Kelly Fishman to tackle essential summer pet wellness strategies. They discuss keeping pets cool, hydration, and why arthritis prevention should begin early—not just when mobility issues appear. From muscle-supporting supplements like Myos Pet to managing heat indices during the dog days of summer, this episode provides actionable, science-based advice to ensure your pet stays happy and healthy. Discover the proactive steps you can take today to optimize your pet’s healthspan and keep them moving comfortably.

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Summer Pet Wellness: Keeping Your Pets Cool And Mobile With Dr. Kelly Fishman

Introduction To Canine Wellness And Summer Safety

Everyone, welcome to the show. It’s hot, it’s smoky, and our pets are confined to quarters. What do we do? They get stiff just like we get stiff. We’ve asked our favorite veterinary sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist, Dr. Kelly Fishman, to join us because we want to talk about summer wellness. How do we keep these pets healthy when they have to stay inside because they cannot walk, it’s too hot? What about hydration? What about treadmills? Are there any supplements we can give them? This is our summer wellness special with our favorite rehab person, Dr. Kelly Fishman. Welcome. You’re a twofer, right, Janet? She’s a twofer. You get like the paw print jacket.

I’m excited for that. I’m really happy to be back because I love talking to you ladies about dog arthritis and dog wellness and prevention and fitness and muscle health, because I’m not sure if you know, but this is the hot topic right now. Everybody’s thinking about dog fitness and dog strength and rehab. I’m just super happy to be in the middle of it as our little area of veterinary medicine, which is, as you said, sports medicine and physical therapy, was barely a thing ten years ago when you graduated from vet school.

I do not know, Dr. Alice, if they even talked about it when I graduated in 2014. It was just starting to take off. When I went to UF, we did have a clinical rotation that was incorporating the early bits of physical rehab and sports medicine. Before that, it was just integrative medicine or acupuncture. It wasn’t really a full field, and now, not to get on too much of a tangent, dogs are thinking about our arthritis prevention, just like you’d think about vaccine prevention, like preventing disease. It’s really incredible. I’m super excited to be back and talking to you and just talking about dogs.

I’m picturing all the Labradors going like this. I do not want to hear. I just want to lie here.

Janet, it’s interesting what Dr. Kelly said, because it seems like pets are living longer. There’s a lot to attribute that to. What if we do not work on their muscle health? What if they live longer if they’re frail and do not want to move? Good quality of life goes along with this rehab and motility or mobility. Motility too.

It’s true. It definitely is true. It’s all about that’s exactly what you said. It’s not how long you live. It’s how well you live. With something like arthritis, just to continue on that tangent, I know we’re going to talk about summer heat, injury, and wellness and all that sort of thing. Thinking about arthritis, that’s actually a young dog disease, and it’s something that we should be preventing.

What you do is if you start young with your Labrador that may have arthritis later on, they have a better lifespan and health span. They live longer, and they feel better, and they’re doing all the fun dog stuff they love to do, which is not listening to, as you said, put their earplugs on and listen to me talk about arthritis. They want to be outside chasing balls, looking at squirrels, doing their stuff, doing their dog stuff. It really is about their health span, how they feel, how they move, all that.

You have to start this before you see them limping, correct? This is more of a preventative thing.

Yes. Now what they’re doing, the new thing that I’ve just recently learned, is that what we’re trying to do in veterinary medicine is, first of all, break the myth that arthritis is an old dog disease. It actually is a young dog disease, and dogs that are predisposed to arthritis because they’re a lab. We know that they have dysplasia, which is like the joints do not necessarily match up in their hips and in their elbows. That leads them to arthritis. Dogs that are large-breed dogs and are really active. You have a big mastiff, and he wants to do agility.

He’s just hard on his joints, or even maybe your city person and you run your dog or bike with your dog on concrete and asphalt all day, because that’s the only surface you can work on. Those dogs are actually really at risk. Now what we’re trying to do in rehab best is actually say, “You’re due for your vaccines, and that’s preventing parvo, and that’s preventing Bordetella, that’s preventing disease. Do you know you should also be assessing your risk for arthritis, and you should be preventing that too?” Now we have almost like the IRIS staging system for dogs and cats that have kidney disease. We have that same thing for dogs with arthritis called COAST. It’s something we could talk about because I think it’s really cool. It’s interesting. The changing mindset is really fascinating.

We should get back to summer because we’re in the heat of it. We’ve got this, whatever you call it, the Canadian wildfire stuff going on around us. I was thinking about letting the dog out. My son is here, and he goes, “I do not think we should let the dog out.” I’m like, “She’s got to go.” Can you do anything? I cannot put a mask over that muzzle over her face. It’s not going to work.

Managing Pets In Summer Heat: Smoke And Heat Index Risks

I do not know about the smoke inhalation part. That part I do not know. I know here we’re getting that same smoke, and we’re also getting these same hot and humid days. One of the things you have got to really work on, as you worry about with dogs, is looking at when they get heat stroke and what’s more at risk. It’s actually like a heat index. A heat index is like when you take the temperature, and then you add it to the humidity. I was listening to my radio, and they’re like, “The heat index is going to be over 103.” People know, just so you guys know, like the doctor was saying this.

Do not do a lot of outside activity because your risk is getting overheated. I was thinking about dogs, and we had the same number, and that heat index is actually 150. Dogs are better than us and, again, more tolerant. They actually are able to manage some of the humidity more than us, but they are still susceptible to it. If that heat index number, for example, is over that 150 number, which is the temperature plus the humidity, you’re actually not supposed to be exercising your dog outside.

The smoke part I do not know about, but I do know that number of 150, or like you should be taking short walks. You should be staying inside. You should be checking the asphalt or the concrete to make sure it’s not hot for your dog. From that point of view, dogs are at increased risk of heat stroke if they are exercising. A lot of pet parents do not know that.

I always say this. They have on a fur coat. It just makes me hot looking at them.

When I walk, I walk early in the morning, like at seven, and a lot of the dog walking people are out then. I love that because I cannot stand when there’s like a big community picnic at two in the afternoon, and people bring their dogs and I do not see any water in sight.

It’s one of those things. The dog probably does not want to be there either. I do not know.

What are these pet wellness products? These summer products? What is this water?

Janet was asking me about that. Tell us about that, Kelly.

Do I need this? Is it battery powered?

It can be, but basically, the theory is that dogs are drawn to water that’s moving. That’s because, in nature, if you’re going to go pick a clean water source, you want to pick something that is moving rather than, like, a big stagnant pond. People have developed these water bowls that recreate moving water. It’s just like a water fountain.

I was looking at it online.

It’s one of those things. I do not know if you ladies have noticed it, but on social media, there has just been such an explosion of just stuff. I’m not sure if it’s because AI is making a bunch of products or they’re making fake veterinarians recommend those products or what, but it’s like, turn on my phone, it’s like, I’m integrated with pads.

That makes sense about the moving water. That really does.

There are designer ones. I had no idea this even existed.

Are there any supplements that we can use preventatively? I’ve got a five-year-old and six-year-old golden, and I noticed that Gidget jumped off the bed, and ever since then she’s been favoring. I’m like, “I do not want to put her on a non-steroidal.” I really do not. I would rather do something like fish oil or something else. What do you think, Kelly?

Canine Joint Health: Supplements, Prevention, And Muscle Support

Absolutely. Thinking about what we do for dogs and thinking about arthritis and orthopedic issues, and maybe she’s limping because she’s golden and she does have a little bit of, I’m not sure where her limp was, the front leg or back. It does not matter, but maybe she has a little bit of arthritis that’s brewing there, or it was a true injury. Either way, the treatment is kind of the same, and the treatment is really, what can I do? I know this is probably going to get worse as she ages, whatever it is, right? It’s probably not. It hasn’t gotten better. What do we do now?

You could, if you have all the money in the world and insurance and you’re one of these people who wants to know everything, go to the specialist, the surgeon, and scope the elbow and get a CT, get an MRI, get an ultrasound. That’s really good for some people because maybe they’re the type of person that wants to go above and beyond with their animal and they have the means and time to do that. Maybe you’re someone who has, like, an agility dog or a hunting dog. There was a reason that they need to be really sound, but you’re a veterinarian.

You’re probably like 80% of people, which is like, “I just do not care what it really is. As long as it’s not cancer, just tell me what to do to make my dog comfortable and just slow this down a little bit because first of all, hearing that this is a lifelong thing and he’s never going to maybe be a hundred percent like whatever your diagnosis is, even if it is arthritis or an injury, unless you do surgery, you may not fix it. What can I just do to make him feel better and really slow this down?”

Something that I would pick too. I would say to you, joint supplements, like fish oil, that’s been proven to help slow down the progression of arthritis. Someone described it as like, when you have fish oil, you’re kind of cooling down the joints. Someone, you can think someone put hot pepper sauce in your joints, and what the fish oil does is it just changes it to like a different type of pepper that’s not so hot.

That’s what I do. I would do muscle supplements. You have to, because first of all, we have muscle supplements now. The oldest and I guess most evidence-based, so the one with the most evidence behind it, meaning that we have studies in dogs, we have studies in cats, showing that this supplement works, is the Fortetropin, which is found in the Myos Pet, which I use myself, I prescribe myself. I’m a big believer.

Are you taking the chewable for yourself? I’m just kidding.

No, it’s a powder. It’s great.

What is it called?

The human version is Yolked. I actually put my fiancé on it too. In seniors, they found that this maintains muscle mass and muscle condition. He was like, “Do you think I’m a senior?”

I was going to say, are you calling him a senior?

I’m a senior, and I’m going to send for it as soon as this is over.

You can find it on Amazon, but there’s a dog version. It’s called the Myos Pet. I could get all into it and get all nerdy if you want, but basically what it does is a fertilized egg yolk supplement, which is cold processed. You maintain all the wonderful bioactive properties of fertilized egg yolk, which I always think back to. I do not know why I have it in my head that 1950s TV shows. They were always drinking. I’d see a young guy drinking egg yolks every morning.

Rocky.

Of course. I should know that because they live outside Philadelphia, but it prevents muscle loss as you age. That’s true in people. We have evidence in people, evidence in dogs. It prevents muscle mass loss as a dog is recovering from an injury or surgery. It’s a no-brainer. If I had a dog like yours, I would immediately say joint supplements, muscle supplements, because if you could support the joint with strong muscle, you’re also doing a lot for that joint. The joint supplement is only going to make the surface healthier, but it’s not going to do anything to stabilize it.

You have to stabilize it with muscle. You get that with nutrition, and you get that with movement and exercise. I would do those things, and I would keep your dog really thin. That’s the one people always forget. That’s the number one. Joint supplements, muscle supplements, keep your dog thin. That whole thing I was talking about before was how we’re thinking about prevention now and taking a puppy with arthritis. Those are the guidelines. That’s all the vet has to say. Those are the things that you should do.

I’m going to start both of them on the Myos because I believe a lot in preventative medicine. Gidget hurt herself, but the other one does not have any problems yet. If I can prevent something, Janet, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.

No. I’m thinking that we’re talking about exercising your pet and all that, so they found in humans that you can start weight training at a senior age and exercising at a senior age, and it will improve your health in mature age, no matter when you start. It’s a good thing, right? Is that the same with dogs?

You’re not going to do cat exercise.

Cats are a wild card. Dogs are easier because they want treats and they want love from us. We can kind of motivate them more. They love exercise. It’s funny because most of my dogs love working out. They really do.

On the treadmill, or you mean outside?

On the treadmill or outside. Modern dogs are probably a bit bored because they spend most of the day inside, and they go on 10-minute walks, and they go to the dog park.

They’re up there. Everything anytime. I agree with you. I think they’re bored.

That’s why we have behavioral problems. That’s probably so much separation anxiety because as your dog stays home as you leave to go to work, they’re like, “I am going to be home all alone. What do I do?”

“I’ll rip down the trim around the doors.” I’m going crazy because I’m a Labrador, and 100 years ago, Labradors would have spent their day in the fields doing a job, or any border collie.

I feel so sorry for her.

Tending to sheep. Now I’m here. Same.

Now, along with what Janet said, so if we’re exercising, no matter what age of the dog, but she brought up senior dogs, you think they’re overheated, how do I cool them down?

How To Properly Cool Down Your Dog: Techniques And Prevention

You have to because Dr. Alice knows this, Janet. I do not know if you do, but dogs cool down by panting and then also by opening up the blood vessels in their skin. That is a really bad way to cool yourself down. It’s actually really inefficient. They should just sweat as we do, and they do not. What that means is that you have to help them cool their body down in order to help them relieve themselves of that excess heat.

The best way to do it is actually to take room temperature water, not ice water, not cold water, room temperature water, hose your dog off, and submerge them in a pool. You’re supposed to do this not just for like a second, but you’re supposed to do it for 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Could put a fan on them or put them in the AC. That’s what you’re supposed to do. I recently took a course with the University of Pennsylvania working dog program.

Dr. Otto, we had her on the show. We love Dr. Otto.

She’s really great. I took her class, and she educated me a ton. One of the things that she did and why she’s so cool is that she actually established the head dunking method to relieve heat stroke in dogs. What is this? You take a gallon of water, and the dog dunks their head, and she actually proved that their core body temperature dropped within a few seconds or a minute. I cannot remember the exact time.

Please, I had to look that up so you could correct me, but it was really quick. The only thing is, like, you had to have previously thought of your dog like a pet, a head ducky. You cannot just all of a sudden be like, “You’re panting. You’re really hot. It’s an emergency.” If your dog looks at you like you’re trying to drown them. If you have a puppy or if you have a young dog, I would teach head dunk. It’s a good way to flush out their eyes, flush out their nasal cavity.

If your GP and someone comes to you, and maybe we’re just talking about when we started, like it’s a smoky day. My dog has to go on a walk. They can make up for their sneezing, and their eyes are a little bit gray because my air quality index is 250. It could be like, “I guess you should have taught them this head dunk,” because the dog, when they dunk their head, they blow bubbles and they clean out their sinuses and they flush their eyes. Maybe that’s something that I could have thought of.

I’m laughing because my kids at summer camp, they taught the young campers. They would literally take water bottles on the kids’ heads when it was hot. I remember, Alice, the 4th of July on Sanibel, I was dying. It was like 120 degrees. I was like, taking the free water bottles. It was so hot because it does work. It cools you down instantly.

What are these cooling pads that they make? Are those worth the hype or not?

They’re more for keeping a dog cool. I have my pet parents who have pugs. A lot of pug parents. I do not know what it is, but it’s like when you get a pug, you get an instant fear of your dog overheating, which I respect because they know their dogs, but they will use those things to keep their dog cool. Now it’s not going to prevent it. That’s not powerful enough to lower your body’s temperature. I say it like, “Listen, I’m going to go for a walk. I’m going to bring a little fan with me to fan myself.” If you’re a kid, you’re going to pour water on yourself. “I’m too worried about my hair. I’m too vain, but I won’t do that.” Maybe for my dog, as a way just to keep you cool, like you do a little cooling pad.

Is it like a frozen thing?

No, it’s usually not frozen because the frozen ones tend not to work as well, but I’ve seen them almost like a vest, and I’ve seen them also as pads that the dog sits on.

Do you put it in the fridge? Is that how it gets cold?

It’s like a chemical one. They like to have some kind of ability to stay colder. I do not know, like some kind of chemical in them, which I guess the only reason you would be worried if you had a bigger dog is if that bigger dog tries to tear it or chews. I’ve seen that those who would like dogs, like big labs or goldens, have like scraped it and opened it up, and it makes a huge mess.

The chemical. As Frenchies are now, that’s really a scary thought. How fast they can overheat.

Is that just part of the breed?

Do you know that pushed-in face, Janet? We talked about that, and they cannot cool off effectively. I see them, like at the town fair, or walking at the park in the afternoon. I’m like, “You people are crazy for doing this.”

They do not know better.

I know.

Do you ever say anything to Kelly when you’re out and about?

No. I do not say anything. I was really embarrassed one time because I was with a group of my friends and I saw a dog. I was like, “This dog’s body condition score is really high. Your dog is really obese.” All my friends around, like, I was walking with a group of like, “You’re going to get me in a fight. This is really uncomfortable.” When I’m on the street, I see lameness all the time.

Let me ask you this question. A fellow walker asked me, and he adopted a black lab pit mix, and it was young, and it was already limping on the front right, which I already informed him about, even though I do not know this guy. It’s a three-mile walk, and he does it twice. He asked me, “Is that too much to walk a puppy?”

Puppy Development Guidelines: Exercise And Movement Restrictions

We actually are in the rehab world. Do we have puppy-specific guidelines? They were more like how high you can jump them. There’s a whole thing that you can look up and go down that rabbit hole. I said rabbit hole because it’s huge. There’s a lot of different things like jumping, and all that sort of stuff. In general, it’s hurt because of arthritis or orthopedic stuff, depending on what it is, and that dog could have OCD in its elbow. Maybe a little piece of cartilage is in the elbow, and it’s like that just needs to be removed. The dog should not walk because every human walks.

It’s like a little pebble in the shoe which hurts. He needs a smoke. He needs that piece of cartilage chucked out. It could be something like the panosteitis and maybe they just exercise through that. It depends, really, on the condition because first of all, I think people are so shocked when a young dog has a limp because you’re like, “What? I just got this puppy. I just got this dog. Is the time. They’re not a lemon. I should not have any problems.”

A lot of times, pet parents will, in a way, put up a little bit of blinders because maybe their dog had been seven. He would have been like, “I’ll take her in,” because it’s normal. Also, that’s not normal in a young dog either. I understand it. You just got a new puppy. You’re like, “What do I do? Should I even be walking him?” That’s what I thought.

Can you really over-exercise a puppy? As they’re developing, what’s your policy on that?

Listen, I do not have any children, but I know people who do. When you play kid sports, things are modified. If you play volleyball, your net’s lower than the adults’. If you play kiddie soccer, you play with different balls. We even take human children, and they can do sports, but it’s with limitations and with certain changes. You know that those joints are growing, and you want them to have the best chance to grow in such a healthy way that, yes, you should be doing certain things to modify their activity to prevent that. As I said, one of the biggest things is not jumping down from high.

There you go.

Rather than like, I’d say, even really doing a walk, especially if you’re really conscientious and you’re like, “My vet told me to do walks on soft surfaces and try to stay off concrete as much as possible. I’m going to try not to play disc golf.” It refers to me with my eight-month-old puppy because I know that every time they’re jumping down, like, they are hurting their joints. I think of it more as generally things that you just modify rather than, like, walk length. Fun roles like it are pretty good unless your dog’s limping every time they walk. That’s a bad walk. Otherwise, walks are good. I do not love them because they do not build tons of muscle. You do not need it. It’s not good for building muscle, but it’s good for their mental health and all sorts of things that the puppy needs.

It’s funny because a puppy is so busy. As a pet owner, you have this, there’s like, “Get them outside already.”

I agree with that, Janet. As Kelly was saying about behavioral problems, it’s just like us. If we’re cleaning windows and vacuuming all day, we’re beat. Do you know what I mean? If you exercise that dog that has separation anxiety, hopefully that’ll ward off some of the behavioral issues because it’s too tired to do anything.

That’s what the behavior is like. It’s funny because, like, when I work, when I think about the other types of veterinary specialists that I work the most with, it’s actually behaviorists. I work a lot with behaviorists because you wouldn’t believe the amount of times that dogs are referred in. They’ve gone through a bunch of trainers, and they finally select a veterinary behaviorist, which is very hard to find and expensive. The behaviorist is like, “Your dog doesn’t have an aggression problem. He’s not snapping at little kids, or he didn’t snap at that little child because he’s aggressive. He was in pain, and he was protecting himself.”

The parent didn’t know where he was in pain. We do not always think like, “My dog sometimes limps when he comes in, but he walks out of it. It’s fine. Most of the time he’s fine except for when he chases the squirrel, or he’s thinking his back legs cannot walk up the stairs anymore, but he’s just old. I do not know.” Maybe it’s arthritis, but they’re not doing anything. Maybe they’re doing a joint supplement, which is not enough. Again, you need muscle supplements, and you need pain meds. Anyway, it’s like a lot of times it’s a behavior cases that are not behavior, they’re pain. That’s something that I really, I work a lot with the behaviorists for absolutely sure.

Behavioral Problems Or Pain? Identifying Hidden Mobility Issues

It just kills me when I’m out on my walk, and I see people walking a dog that’s limping. I think, “How would you like someone making you walk when you’re limping?” Look at this dog. It’s limping. There’s a show called Castle Impossible on HGTV. It’s a young couple. She inherited this castle. They have this white dog. It looks like a shepherd mix. I do not know if it’s osteosarcoma or what, because I’m looking at it on TV. It is following them, limping so badly on that right front. It’s breaking my heart. I’m like, “Who can I email about this?” Of course, that’s probably taped a year ago.

People are just in denial. General vets have such a hard time. It’s very difficult. That’s a hard job. Part of it is like, you have 15 minutes to 30 minutes to go, be an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, an orthopedist. Also got to be an internal medicine doctor and a cardiologist. I have to, like, I have two patients because I have the pet, the pet, and then I have the owner. I like to deal with two different things.

We’re ten minutes late for the appointment.

They’re like, “Can you do a nail trim?” You’re like, “Ah.” It’s so much.

You’re doing a nail trim.

The dog is sitting there like this.

You cannot go like that to it.

He’s like, “I’m fine.” He’s like, “I just want to go here as soon as possible, get treats, go on my walk. I’m totally okay.”

“Do not bring up my nails.”

“Do not look at my limp. I’m totally okay.” When you go to the doctor or the dentist, you’re like, “Are you sure it’s a cavity? I do not really want to do anything.” People just do not see it.

They sometimes want to be in denial because they do not want anything to be wrong with the pet. We have got to know.

Not to go on my tangent again about the COAST system and staging, but that’s what the new push in rehab is going to be. We should be screening these dogs as puppies. This would be part of the puppy exam. Just like vaccines, just like everything else. Like how the behaviorists, again, are a bit ahead of us. Ten years ago, we’re talking about training your puppy to like nail trims, and training your puppy to take pills. You may not need this now, but like when they’re older, like very happy that you did this.

As a pet parent and a human parent, you never want anything to be wrong. Even with my son, so they would say, “I’m not feeling so,” I would be like, “Take an Advil. You’ll be fine.”

You got so much Benadryl on those kids. I’m surprised.

No, that’s Hayley. My kids didn’t do Benadryl.

Kelly, I’m curious. Some of these diets. We will not mention any names. Some of these diets that are formulated for joints. Your opinion on that versus a regular diet and then supplementing.

Joint Diets Vs. Supplements: Finding The Right Nutrition Strategy

As a pet parent, if you have a prescription joint support diet, and you have a pet parent with cost restrictions, if you have a pet parent who has a dog that will not eat fish oil because it’s oil, because it’s not full, because they have pancreatitis, because they get diarrhea with it, or whatever. There’s some reason that I do not want to supplement. I’ll put them on a prescription. It has to be a prescription diet, because the prescription diets are the ones that have proven levels of omega-3s that are beneficial. That’s what we push.

If I have a pet parent like myself, who’s like, “I actually could do more. I already like my dog’s food. He’s doing great on it. I do not want to feed kibble or canned food. I want to feed a raw diet.” In those cases, I supplement, and ideally you supplement too, because you can really control the dose a little bit better. You could select a fish oil that is sustainable. A fish oil that is screened for toxins. I love doing the supplement route because I have a look. You can fine-tune things, and it could be a little bit more selective with the type of fish oil that you put on, but it really just depends on the human because they’re the ones feeding.

That makes a lot of sense.

I had someone ask me about curcumin. What are your thoughts on that? I know the bad part of any supplement is the quality. Am I getting a company that is a good quality supplement?

What is curcumin?

Turmeric.

Have you ever had, like, a golden, as they call them, like golden smoothies or golden milk, the tea?

Yes.

You’re not good anyway.

I took that when I had Lyme, and it did nothing for the joint pain. I’m just saying.

In large amounts, it is anti-inflammatory. A lot. Large amounts that it’s not palliative. There’s a recipe going on Google that’s been around forever called golden paste. That’s a vet or someone who made some golden paste at that therapeutic level. I will tell you most dogs will not eat it. Is it something that’s nice if you can act that shy levels like that are needed to be anti-inflammatory for the joints? It just gets expensive. I would say like five percent of my pet parents choose to do that. Everybody’s doing collagen, joint supplements. Everybody’s doing muscle supplements. That’s where people are going, rather than the turmeric. People have realized that it’s not easy to give it to a dog.

I had someone ask me about peptides, and to be honest with you, I didn’t know anything about it.

No one knows.

Good. I’m glad to hear that.

I have had two pet parents talk to me about peptides, and it always goes like this. “My groomer is giving her dog peptides.” I was like, “What’s a peptide?” They’re like, “It’s an injection.” I look it up. I’m like, so these people are somehow getting, I do not know where they’re even ordering it, some vial of some peptide that is not even approved for use in humans or in dogs. It’s scary. It’s never even been studied in dogs, never. We do not even know if it’s safe. You could be giving your dog an increased risk for cancer. The human evidence is not all over the place.

What’s the dose? Someone like my client was like, “I want to start it.” I was like, “What’s your dose? If you can find the dose for me and tell me that, I will support it.” She was like, “Dr. Fishman, I cannot find that.” I said, “Yes.” I said, “Guess what?” This is my client who’s lovely, and I have a good relationship with her, so I could talk to her like this. I said, “What drew you to this?” I’m just curious. As someone who does this for a living, I think about supplements all the time.

I work with Myos Pet. He has evidence. They’ve studied. There are papers. It works in dogs and cats and horses. There’s evidence to find out. I was like, “What drew you to this?” She’s like, “A dog groomer said that it helps with keeping their back leg weakness. They do not have that as much, and it keeps them stronger.” I was like, “We have been doing this for a year. You’re doing rehab. You’re doing the Myos Pet. You are doing the things that we know work. You’re already on it.”

It’s just with the products that are proven to work and are high quality.

They are not going to potentially hurt your dog.

Where are these peptides coming from? I was reading a thing the other day, and they are amino acids because we know that. Put amino acids together, you get peptides. You’re right. I saw pictures of vials. I’m like, “From where?”

I do not know.

It’s very scary.

I’m looking on Amazon for fun. We’re going to buy some peptides.

What’s the number one? I kind of think I know the answer.

It’s on Amazon.

Is it really? Is it a vial?

Wait, these are reusable injection pens, which just grosses me out for some reason. Just get better.

The Gold Standard For Pet Mobility: Prioritizing Weight Management

I have a feeling it’s obesity, but what is the number one piece of advice you would give people who own a pet with the starting to have mobility problems? We want to do the prevention thing, but now if it’s too late and they’re already having it, so where do you start? With the weight loss?

Yes. Weight loss because it really is the most proven, because you could do all the rehab, you can do all the muscle supplements and joint supplements and exercises, and it’s way fewer injections. If you continue to stress the joints out, weight.

When you’re heavy, you do not want to exercise.

I didn’t learn this in vet school because we were taught this, but I’ve come to realize that fat is really inflammatory. It’s not just bad for the joints. It’s also bad for your health. That was like something that we didn’t talk about. I’m sure human doctors learn that. We didn’t learn that in vet school.

I didn’t tell anybody that. The human doctors do not tell you that anyway. I do not want to get onto that, but they do not. It’s pretty quick.

When you go for your annual physical, they always say your weight’s good. Like it’s like the first thing.

If your weight is bad, I wonder if they say that. That’s the thing. You love compliments.

I do. I will tell you about my husband who needs to lose a few pounds. They always comment on his weight.

I’m glad to hear that.

For the past ten years, dude, we’ve been telling you, you know what I’m saying?

Glad to hear that.

He comes to me, and he’s like, “I know.”

Kelly, you got to admit there are a lot of dogs that look like their owners.

I agree.

Size-wise, their face too.

I’m talking size-wise.

They’re both true. I think it’s also, I do not know, it’s a lifestyle. It’s all about overeating. Dogs do not get fat. Maybe, I guess people can have other things come on a human person. A human doctor cannot say, but dogs only get fat because they’re being overfed. It’s hard because food is love as well. Dogs love food. Even my cat, as he comes downstairs, he’s like, “I get a treat for doing this.” He likes to follow me around, and he’s at me. I give him a treat, and he starts to purr, and he’s happy.

It’s part of the bond, and it’s super easy to just overfeed them. The number one thing is definitely weight loss. It’s the thing that I tell people. It’s the number one thing for not only the joints, but for other diseases as well. It’s going to save you money. It’s the only time you come to a vet and like, “I will save you money because you’ll walk out of here and you’re going to be buying less dog food.

Are there any low-calorie foods that you would recommend substituting for the commercial dog treats, some of which have a lot of calories in them?

Where I was telling people, I said, “It’s one of those things like your dog needs to go on a diet. If I’m going to go on a diet, modify things for a period of time. When they lose weight, then I’m going to readjust.” I tell pet parents a good way to do that is to actually feed a prescription weight loss diet because the dog doesn’t know he’s on a diet because it has fewer calories. In a cup of food, it’ll have half the calories as the dog’s normal food. He’s losing weight. He’s eating fewer calories. He was eating 500, and now he’s eating 200.

The dog doesn’t know he’s on a diet because he just ate a cup of food. He’s like, “Cool. My family’s not starving me. This is great. I’m going to stay with them.” Versus they think that you’re serving them and, if you really cut the food back, they get upset about it. You cannot, then at the same time you’ve subbed out. You’re now feeding them carrots and broccoli instead of those delicious ones. What are those ones that are really high in calories? Bully sticks are really calorie-dense and are surprisingly high in calories, or feeding like little chicken liver, freeze-dried chicken livers, which are like 30 calories a pop.

That’s a lot if you’re a 50-pound dog.

I remember actually when I briefly worked in GP, I saw a poster that the vet had put up in the exam room. It was like they pulled one off a donut. Basically it was like a Milk-Bone, and it would be like two Milk-Bones, like one donut. I would have seen that. People could say like, “Wow.” People just think the treats are all the same calories. You would think about, like, if I just happen to go to the dog store, I’m tired, or the dog pet food store, and I’m like, it’s late. I’m like, “Oh.” The package looks good.” That’s 30 calories. Normally grab the like another brand with Charlie Bears, and those are like four calories. “Look at these two ones.”

Those are like 30 calories, totally different from the two calories I was feeding. That’s also hard because companies like calorie formations, unlike us, like we have to like human foods. One, I look at the back of the label. I know the calorie content that’s going to be on there. When you go to Chipotle or wherever, Starbucks, like everything that you order, it is like you’re eating this many calories, and you’re like, “Really? My salad bowl was that many calories? It’s crazy.” That’s why they needed the dog for the short tube. They do not have that. They hide it because they do not.

I bet if we asked ten pet parents if they’ve looked at the amount of calories on the back of the bag, I bet maybe one. They’d be like, “Yes.” First of all, it’s not easy to find, for one thing.

I like the idea of a prescription pet food because, as a pet owner, I feel a little guilty. If she eats regular food instead of two scoops, she’s getting one and a half. It’d be more satisfying as a pet owner to do the two scoops for fewer calories.

Also, if you take their regular food, not the weight-loss food, but the regular food and just cut the amount you’re feeding, you may not be giving them all the nutrients they need. As the weight-loss diets are designed for that.

I give treats on our walks to give treats. I put the kibble bits. I bring the little kibble bits

That is smart.

That was Alice’s idea, not mine.

You give credit.

I will try. Now we do not have much time left, but cats. Arthritis in cats is a new thing, and I’m happy about it. We are actually thinking, “That cat cannot jump up on the desk anymore. What’s going on?” What’s new with that?

Recognizing Arthritis In Cats: Signs, Symptoms, And Diagnosis

It’s like my favorite topic because my cat has this, and I love cats. I’m obsessed with cats. Even though dogs are my life and my work life, I love kitties. I love having cats at home. Really, what we know is that cats get way more arthritis than we ever thought. Part of that was as veterinarians, we are not diagnosing arthritis in cats. What would happen is your cat would come in, or the owner would say, “The cat is like limping, but cats are amazing at hiding pain and adapting to pain.”

It’s because they’re a little bit like, they call them predator and prey species, meaning that they can be predators to things like mice, but they’re also a prey animal because they’re susceptible to a coyote attack. They’re both. When they’re like that, if they do not want to show that they’re limping and in pain, they’ll fight you. First of all, it’s hard to see it. The person is seated at home, which is the best way for early detection of arthritis and pain, and the pet parent at home saying, “There’s something wrong. I want to go to my vet.”

They go to the vet, and it’s frustrating for the veterinarian because they’re like, “There’s something wrong.” I do not know when, I do not know what it is like, and it happens all the time. The veterinarian is like, “Great. I do not know, just do it now because I cannot talk to that.” I cannot be like, “All right, like Nelson,” like what’s my cat’s name, “Can you tell me what it hurts?” On a still diagram, like they do not, they’re not going to tell me. At the same time, like cats with a vet and like 90% of them are freaked out. There are very few of them, like that Maine Coon or that orange boy cat that comes in like, “I’m going to just walk on the scale and I’m going to make for you because I just love being here in the vet.”

They’re not like that. They’re all in their carrier like this, like hunched in on you, then you touch them, and they’re just you have like five minutes to say you’re a cop. What happened is, and then they would be like, “The joint feels fine.” The vet would be like, “I’m going to take an X-ray,” and the X-ray is normal. What has previously been is that they were taking those X-rays of cats, and they were using dog criteria, and the dog criteria for diagnosing OA is different than the cats. The kitties actually had OA on that. OA is arthritis. I’ll use it. That’s a normal muggle term.

I’m assuming osteoarthritis.

I do not want to say OA anymore, so basically the cat had arthritis on the X-ray, but it was missed because we were looking at or comparing it to what a dog should look like. We had nothing, and the cat wasn’t doing anything. The pet parent was the only one sitting there being like, “I could have sworn they were saying wrong.”

A video would have helped.

Eventually they showed you, “That cat wasn’t jumping up to his little cat pose. Why does he use a little step stool? He was always like to leap off things because he has to leap off things. He’s doing like little steps down, or maybe he’s like as he goes up the stairs. He’s really the gimp.” Videos are like, that’s exactly what I tell people to do with kitties is record, tell us who you’re seeing in home, and realizing again that like pain and arthritis and cats like that’s going to be a diagnosis of behavior changes. Also doing the same thing that you would do in a dog.

Omega-3 fatty acids, the Myos Pet for the feline, the same supplements. If you need to do pain medication, if your cat is a candidate, you could do things like Solensia. It used to be that we didn’t even have a lot of good pain medications for cats. They couldn’t be on carprofen or doggy NSAIDs because it’s toxic to them long-term. You were really limited with what you could do. You could do acupuncture, but some cats hate it. You could do laser.

They do love that. I love warming beds, but they cannot do exercise. You’re really limited. Cats make it a little bit more difficult. They’re difficult to diagnose arthritis. They’re difficult to manage because you do not have a lot of pain medication options. Also, you do not have as many known pharmaceutical options to manage pain, like fitness, like the other stuff that you can do with dogs, like put them on the treadmill.

It was sad because in the past, I think they would get a long-acting cortisone shot, and sadly, it’s so overused in cats, and then they became diabetic or had heart failure later.

That’s right. That’s the thing. The surgery shot probably worked great. That cat probably felt amazing. The vet felt great. They’re like, “I fixed it. It’s right around again. Super excited.” Also, it starts to break down their muscle, which is bad. It wears off.

Cats accidentally roll off the bed, be like, “That didn’t happen to me.” They’re never going to show me what’s wrong.

That’s why the video is such a good idea. I’m just curious, say, for example, the Myos Pet supplement. Will cats eat that? That you sprinkle on the food? Do they like it?

My cat’s obsessed with it. I put Nelson on it because, again, how common is arthritis? He’s twelve, but when he was about ten, he started to get a little bit gimpy. I feel really bad because I wasn’t the one who noticed it. My fiancé noticed it. He’s like, “I think Nelson’s limping.” I was like, “Okay.” He’s limping. I put him on the Myos Pet, and it’s a topper, and what it is is it’s stinky because the one I chose to put him on also has a green-lipped mussel.

Janet, you should look into that.

It smells like rotten fish, and it’s like, my cat was crazy. Actually, what else I’ve learned living also in Pennsylvania, that insects go crazy for it. I have to take it out of the container and put it into a sealed jar because of the amount of time that I’ve come downstairs, and ants have found it. Apparently, answer why you get jacked up and feel our channel? My cat loves it. Every cat patient that I’ve put on it, they love it. Honestly, it’s my number one in dogs, like I always kind of lead with omega-3s just because it’s just this full body.

Do you know what I mean? It’s easy to talk to them about because they’ve already known about joint supplements. I do not typically lead the Myos Pet, but with cats, on the opposite, I was like, my own. Most cats will take fish oil. Good luck. They want to. We skinned them on Myos, and I got Nelson on it. He’s been on it for four years. He actually has early kidney disease. He’s stage one, and they did a study showing that the use of Myos Pet does not worsen their levels of like creating your estimate. In fact, I can prove it, not prove it, but at least prove it with my own cat anecdotally, because he’s been on Myos Pet for four years. His kidney values have not moved.

That’s good.

His preteen has improved. I use it, and he’s really muscular. I feel like he is protected. It’s like now, he’s buff, like I have a buff cat.

Is he orange?

He’s white.

He’s walking around the hood, way to the pool.

We covered this, though. I was going to ask you, what’s the biggest mistake pet owners make? I think it’s weight.

I would say so. Yes, weight.

Final Thoughts: Tackling Obesity And Maintaining Pet Healthspan

I’m guessing, right? You’re not the only veterinarian that has said the same thing on the show.

I’m going to forget the number because I always forget exact numbers, but it’s like two out of three dogs in America are obese. Something like that. It’s really high. It’s hard for pet parents too because you even look at AKC guidelines for a pug or for a lab, and like the guidelines, which is like AKC is a dog show. It’s all about how the dog looks. “This is like a dog beauty pageant.” Not beauty pageants more true than that, but part of it is, and part of that is beauty pageant instead of, maybe you’re for humans being really skinny is, are these dogs being overweight? They want them to be.

I agree. You do not really see thin dogs in these Kennel Club shows. You do not.

It’s funny. I was talking to my friend, and I said, “Sometimes people post on Instagram or whatever, like a picture from humans back in the 40s and 50s.” All the ladies had these teeny tiny waists, and there’s no one overweight in those pictures.

Like Mitzi Gaynor and all those dancers.

This is just like the general public, like at the Jersey Shore.

It was a really neat thing a couple weeks ago. Why is no one in Japan obese? They eat till they feel 80% full. In the schools, they make all the food themselves. They’re only allowed to have fried food twice a month. You know what their dessert was? A quarter of an orange. We’re doing a lot.

I could not do it.

I could see those oranges being thrown right now.

You want that for dessert?

I could do eight percent. Quarter of an orange, no. Do not make me do it.

That’s not a lot.

It was fascinating. I’m sitting there enthralled by it because I thought, then you go to the store, and you see fat fiber people walking around. You know what I’m saying? You look at what’s in their cart. Anyway, Janet, we’ve got to wrap it up. We love having you on.

I want to come back and talk about all that COAST staging.

We need to do that.

We only need to do that arthritis deep dive.

Even though this is designed for pet parents, we do have a lot of veterinarians tuning in to this, and to be honest, I had not heard of that.

It’s new.

Good. Yes, we need to have you back on because I would love personally to hear about that. Paying attention, but I’ve got Gidget here. Gidget, where are you? Wait, I cannot see you. Anyway, it’s been like a half-hour massage because I’m a captive audience. That’s it. We’re done.

She’s not with me. Usually my sidekick’s with me. She’s upstairs.

Lucky you.

We have our two guest questions.

Go ahead.

What is your party entrance song?

For who, me?

Yes.

Kokomo.

She knew right away. My kind of gal.

It’s the best song ever.

That’s a good one. Everybody can rock to that one.

That was it.

I thought there were two. Good.

Thank you for being on the show. We appreciate you, Kelly. Thank you, audience, for paying attention. I learned a lot about what to do and not to do in this crazy heat we have in the summer. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for all your questions that you’re sending in to SOPPodcast.com. That’s it. Thanks for tuning in.

Kelly, give Nelson a big smooch for us.

I will. Please visit my website, Strut Animal, and then MyosPet.com too, if anyone’s interested. Have a great day.

You too.

Bye, everyone.

Important Links

• Dr. Kelly Fishman on LinkedIn
• Strut Animal
• Strut Animal on Instagram
• Strut Animal on Facebook
• Myos Pet
• 3 in 10 US pet owners spend more on their pet than they do on their own health: report
• The Future Of The Pet Economy: Where Consumer Spending Is Heading In 2026
• Here’s how pet ownership costs are changing (and what owners need to do now)
• The 2026 Pet Care Crisis: Why Veterinary Care Costs Are Forcing Families to Choose
• Fortetropin inhibits disuse muscle atrophy in dogs after tibial plateau leveling osteotomy
• Editorial: Veterinary Sports Medicine and Physical Rehabilitation
• neoccj.com  Country Critter Journal

About Dr. Kelly Fishman

Dr. Kelly Fishman, DVM, CVA, CCRT, is a leader in the field of veterinary sports medicine and physical rehabilitation. As the founder of Strut Animal Mobility Specialists and a veterinary advisory board member at MYOS PET, she has dedicated her career to enhancing the quality of life for animals through her integrative approach, combining nutrition, fitness, and state-of-the-art therapy methods and tools that improve the long-term health, mobility, and well-being of dogs and cats. Her primary focus is to equip pet parents with the knowledge and tools they need to help their animals live longer, healthier, and happier lives.