Affording wellness pet care in a troubled economy.

Listen to internet radio with Roger Welton DVM on Blog Talk Radio

Listen to this podcast directly from my show page by CLICKING HERE.

Podcast airs Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 9 PM EST

Greetings readers, listeners and viewers:

Tonight's podcast deals with the veterinary care side of our ongoing and seemingly never ending economic malaise, a reality that affects both the veterinary industry and pet owners alike. On our side, patient visits are down and have been steadily decreasing over the past three years. On you the pet owners' side, many of you have been faced with making the difficult choice between providing quality wellness care for your pets or making sure your families remain fed and clothed. It is both frustrating and at times even heartbreaking from either side of that equation.

In this podcast, I discuss some modalities that pet owners can take advantage of in order to not necessarily have to sacrifice some level of quality wellness care for your pets during tough economic times. I present these options objectively, explaining how some are indeed too good to be true, while others may be worth your careful consideration. In the end, it is not wise to let the ideal be the enemy of the good, and in tonight's talk, I aim to help you steer through the options available to you as a caring  pet owner with a limited budget.

We also have three excellent e-mail questions submitted that I will address on the air, one notably all the way from France, while another is from a fellow practicing veterinarian. Hope you enjoy the show, and please keep the comments and e-mails coming!

Thanks again for caring to hear what I have to say! :)

Regards,

Roger Welton, DVM 

Send e-mail questions or comments for Dr. Roger to discuss on the air to comments@web-dvm.net

Dr. Roger Welton is the President and chief veterinarian at Maybeck Animal Hospital in West Melbourne Florida, as well as CEO of the veterinary advice and health management website Web-DVM.net.

Season Opener: Check your dog's and cat's symptoms online!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO AT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Transcript from this week's episode of The Web-DVM:

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to a new season of The Web-DVM. Thank you so much for continuing to take the time to watch the show. As promised, I have a big announcement about a project I dedicated a lot of time to over the summer.

Many of you who watch are YouTubers that have subscribed having come across my webcasts by chance, through search engine, or through word of mouth. What many of you are not aware of is that this webcast was originally meant to be a media supplement to a veterinary health information website I founded called Web-DVM.net. In short, this show and my BlogTalkRadio podcast were just created to add some spice and updated content to what I deemed the much bigger and more important Web-DVM.net. Little did I know that this webcast and my podcast would take on lives of their own, drawing thousands of viewers and listeners each week.

But Web-DVM.net remains, receives 50, 000 unique visitors per month, and is a project I am still very proud of, especially now that I have added a virtual dog and cat symptom checker. That is, if your pet is exhibiting signs of illness or disease, you can go to the Web-DVM.net symptom checker and use the tool to try to narrow down what may be wrong with your pet. The symptom checker provides the user a set of possible causes of disease, each with a link to an in-depth article about each given condition. Best of all, it is free to use at your leisure, without need for any registration or login. Just show up and use it. Here is a brief example of how it works.

Pause for symptom checker illustration

Pretty cool, huh? Now, while I invite you to use the Web-DVM.net symptom checker as often as, and whenever you like, please let me be clear that it is not meant to be a replacement for your veterinarian. I will repeat that one more time, it is not a replacement for your veterinarian. It is an educational tool only meant to aid pet owners understand if a certain set of signs can mean there is disease present, while also getting an idea of the urgency associated with a particular set of signs. That said, enjoy it, and thank you once again for remaining a fan of my show. Please join me next time, when I will be answering the ever so common question, “Why do some dogs and cats eat grass?”

Dr. Roger Welton is the President and chief veterinarian at Maybeck Animal Hospital in West Melbourne Florida, as well as CEO of the veterinary advice and health management website Web-DVM.net.

Wed 9-14-2011 Season Opener: Dr. Roger's Big Announcement; The Itchy Pet!

Listen to internet radio with Roger Welton DVM on Blog Talk Radio

Listen to this podcast directly from my show page by CLICKING HERE.

Hello everyone and thank you for your patience this summer during my abscence. My media work is one of my favorite aspects of my veterinary career and I am itching to get back to corresponding with all of you. Whether you are a fan of my BlogTalkRadio podcast, my YouTube webcast, or both, we are set to kick off the new season tomorrow night, Wednesday 9 PM EST with my podcast, Veterinary Advice, Animal News and Views.

In this show, I will be announcing the completion of an exciting project that I worked on all summer that will be free for pet owners to enjoy great benefits from. I will then highlight some changes that will be in effect for the new fall season and transition into the evening's topic of The Itchy Pet.

For those of you that are waiting for return of The Web-DVM YouTube webcast, the first one is set to air one week from tomorrow, Wed 9-21-2011, where I will be discussing my project further, as well as showing it in action. My plan for this season with a very demanding schedule is to alternate every other week between my podcast and webcast. I love both genres equally for different reasons, but doing both each week turned out to be too much of a demand on my time.

Thank you all again for your patience this off season, and for caring enough to listen to little old me! I hope the my new project I have to offer you, as well as this season's topics and formats will be such that I do not disappoint!

Dr. Roger Welton is the President and chief veterinarian at Maybeck Animal Hospital in West Melbourne Florida, as well as CEO of the veterinary advice and health management website Web-DVM.net.