Lauren Akins: Motherhood, Mustang Mishaps & Her Dog Cash’s Brush with Death

00:00:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're listening to in the Vets Office with doctor Josie Horchak.

00:00:16
Speaker 2: All right, you guys, welcome back to in the Vets Office. I am your host, doctor Josie, and this is a very exciting week because I have brought in the Vets Office to one of my client's homes. You may know her as a New York Times best selling author, a philanthropist. She's a mom of four beautiful girls, and she is married to a country music superstar. But the reason she's here today is because she is a dog mom. Lauren Aikens, Welcome to in the Vet's Office.

00:00:46
Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here, and thanks for having to hang with us at our house.

00:00:50
Speaker 2: I know, we get to sit in your living room and so nice. We've got your puppies, ConA and Cash here. I say you're a dog mom, but you're really a cat, dog and horse mom. I am anything the sides of animals supposed to be. I mean, that's right now.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: No, that's where we're at, and it's great and never a dull moment, as ConA is tripping over all the things. That's if you hear panticly, everybody can still hear it in the background, that is the dog.

00:01:14
Speaker 2: When I was introducing you, it made me think that I didn't know your last name was Aikens.

00:01:19
Speaker 1: Do people tell you that a lot? I thought it was rets. Yes, everyone does for a good reason because that's his stage name, and so I think people soon assume our last name is Rhette. Is that middle name? I get it. Yeah, it's kind of like that Southern A lot of people have two names in the South have the double name. Older two have double names, and then it got to be so many double names that we had to stop the double names because it was Thomas Raett, Willegray, Ada James, and so I was like, we're not going to go the last two. We're not going to do double names. But I named them both l names, and I'm an elle name, so I didn't even mean to do that necessarily. But it's either all three double names and the other three year l's l names, and so I can't ever get the right name out.

00:02:08
Speaker 2: You know, it's a lot of names like the It's like a tongue twister. Yes, yes, Peter Piper picked up Yeah, exactly where we're at Okay every day and then you add the dogs and the horses and the cats, Like, I don't ever.

00:02:19
Speaker 1: Know who I'm talking to? Do the dogs have middle names?

00:02:23
Speaker 2: No, that's probably for the best, but keep it a little like something in your life needs to be simple.

00:02:27
Speaker 1: Trying to simplify just a little bit.

00:02:29
Speaker 2: How do you balance all of these creatures and then your family and being a wife and a mom.

00:02:35
Speaker 1: How how do you do that? Honestly, probably not super well. Our life in house is pretty chaotic. I think that's to be expected, probably with four little ones running around, for sure, But we have learned to operate pretty well. I feel like in the chaos and like that's my normal now. So if it gets too quiet, I'm like, what what do I do? How to not I think a lot of people look at us and they're like, how are you managing all this? But I think truly you just kind of figure out whatever becomes your new normal. You just make it over time. Yeah, it becomes your new normal. And I'm like, well, four kids is normal, and a traveling husband is normal. We definitely have really hard weeks and really hard moments, but everybody does. And I do think honestly, having the animals in my life for me. They are like a place of peace and for my girls too. Percent Yeah, it's it's sweet. It's it's chaos, but it's my chaos, and I right, I really love it. That's good. You thrive in chaos. I love that too.

00:03:49
Speaker 2: It is funny that you say that. Like I feel like when I'm having a really bad day or stressful week, like just sitting down with my dogs at night and petting them, I'm like, ah, like I can relax. Yeah, they really, I mean they aren't there.

00:04:00
Speaker 1: Cash for our lab he is like my well, okay, I actually think I am his security blanket. Actually I know that I am, but he kind of is that for me. But he just you know, I think a lot of people are like my dog knows if I'm having a hard day, and also our horses, like you know, there's like the equon therapy and yeah, there's the reason behind like the animal therapies and the things like that. But Cash specifically, I mean, he's like my shadow in the house. But like when, for instance, when I was pregnant with all three of my pregnancies, he when it got like really close to the do date and when things were you know, kind of moving a little bit here and there and we're like, oh, where is that happening? Is it not? He followed me everywhere in the house. If I would get up in the middle of the night, he would be right by my side. When I was laboring at home, he was, I mean, right under my feet, and he wasn't he was like just a very peaceful just like hey, it's like I got you right here, I'm not gonna leave. And he's always been that for me, and he is I don't want to say high maintenance, but he always gets into mischief.

00:05:16
Speaker 2: I feel like I feel like silver labs. I mean, labs in general are a little like they can be naughty, but silver labs.

00:05:22
Speaker 1: Okay, Well I didn't know that. He definitely I didn't know that, but that is definitely who he is a lot of it. And Thomas Rhett really drives him crazy. So our hound Kona, she she really loves I was wondering and always has and she's a total diva. Gosh, like, is right on my hip when I come. He's my little buddy. So I'm like, you, you know he's he's annoying to you, but he's really special to me, Like this is my son yeah, right, like, don't touch him.

00:05:57
Speaker 2: When I come to the house to take care of the dogs. It's funny because their personalities like could not be more different. Cash runs out his tails wagging. He's like, hey, come on in, let me show you around. And Conah's in the kitchen like, who are you?

00:06:10
Speaker 1: You're so awful? Who invited you to this home? Come close to me? Yeah? Very much? Who they are.

00:06:17
Speaker 2: There's also a video going around right now of like a woman our age looking at her two dogs and it's like the boy dogs like, mom, I love you, You're so beautiful, and it goes to the girl dog and it's like you're fat. Like this is literally exactly how it is.

00:06:33
Speaker 1: Oh, but it's so fun I mean they have their they have their different roments too. You know Conah even with my kids, I think one of them, it's a little is the favorite at times with the kids. They have their personalities. It goes well, but how are the most part How do they do with the kids? Like are they pretty chill? They're great, so ConA, Actually they're amazing with our family, our friends, our kids. They are not great with strangers and and Kona actually was that way when she was younger. She had kind of a traumatic experience when she was young, and I think it really shifted. I don't know just how. She definitely is more on the defensive side of things.

00:07:19
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think about humans, like when we have trauma at younger ages, as it kind of shapes who we are, and it can do.

00:07:25
Speaker 1: That right animals. So she's she's going to be thirteen this year. Yeah, she's going to be thirteen. And I so we had our our oldest came home. We adopted her from Uganda, and she came home in May nine years ago, eight years ago. I needed to get that math right in twenty seventeen, math is hard. Where are we? I'm not years ago? And so she was, you know, not a puppy, so that wasn't necessarily concern. But I also was just like, you know, I think everyone's greatest fear is like, how are my dogs going to interact with the kids? Like I hope that they love each other and that they're And she's always she's always been. She is kind of she's protective, but she's really protective, like for them, that's sweet and so yeah, that's really sweet. But now that she's older, she doesn't move fast. She's kind of passed it off to Cash and bless him, I think that's not his strong suit. But I do think that she has passed something to him because I think he knows I need to like stand up and be a little bit more assertive as a guard dog. And he just doesn't have the natural cues I think like she does. So sometimes he's barking. I'm like, Buddy, that's the wrong person to bark at. We're not going to bark at that person because she's definitely the brains. It's like pinky and the brain's smart. Yeah, that's exactly. Yeah, she's the brain. Is he the one that committed the crime? Yep, that'sh Yeah, Okay, so he doesn't he's he doesn't love strange men and hats with sunglasses is like as a double whammy. Yeah, you're a big no media and then deliverymen specifically for whatever reason. I feel like a lot of dogs probably have that. Yeah, it is different in Cash. But if you're here, like sitting here with him, and when you come in and I mean he's just a big, giant, squishy bear, I mean you're just like, oh, you just he's just so mushy, what happened? You said Kna had something bad happened when she was little? What was that she like at the when like her little traumatic experience. We read a dog park and you know, it's our first dog, and I'm like, I'm gonna take her to the dog parks, she says, a little puppy, and I have no to this day, I don't know what triggered it. I don't know. I didn't even get to talk to the other owner because they bolted as soon as it happened. We ride a dog park and it was kind of a hilly dog park, so there was this rock wall and we were up on the top on this like grassy spot on top of the rock wall, and it was a pretty good drop down to pavement, and she was just kind of, you know, running around looking kind of like checking everybody out in this giant dog out of nowhere. I mean, Bee lines it for Kona and tackled her, rolled her was coming for her, and hit her so hard that she went off the wall and laid it on the pavement. And I was awful, really sad. It really hurt her. She was obviously traumatized, and from that day on she like would not let other dogs get close to her. Yeah, she's like, so it kind of started there, and then sa same kind of thing. If she doesn't know the person, she's always real like I don't know. I'm like, it's very skeptical.

00:11:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, it takes a lot for her to Catahoula trust somebody of her. I would say, like, they're kind of does she try and herd anything? Like, well she heard the kids are like maybe maybe.

00:11:17
Speaker 1: I mean when we run around the house, she kind of will do this thing where she'll kind of grab at my clothes to try to slow me down. Yeah, that's she kind of like lags you're telling plays. But then she's kind of like also, no, no, no, so down, so down, and then we slow down. She's like okay, okay, we don't know where are you going? And then she does as much anymore because she can't move as fast but she used to, and the kids loved it. They would be like, how fast can kind of try to get us all back together?

00:11:40
Speaker 2: Now she's like one hundred and five with a walker.

00:11:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna get you. Yeah, that's right, that's exactly right. And then if she tries to run fast, she can't walk very well the next two days.

00:11:49
Speaker 2: That is a very classic hurting dog. She is, by the way, is laying on the other couch and soaring so loud.

00:11:55
Speaker 1: It's amazing.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: She's living her best life and she's so cute. So when we had first that, you guys were like, hey, we're going to sign up for the concierge vet and we got everything together and then I was like, well, when should I come out for our first visit? And you're like, let me check my calendar. And then I didn't hear from you for like a month, and I was like, this is weird, Like I hope everything's okay, and.

00:12:26
Speaker 1: Also not shocking if you're trying to text me, ever, you might not hear from me from a month. So sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you, but yes, continue.

00:12:33
Speaker 2: But then you came up for air a few weeks later and you were like, by the way, something's happened. And I get like one hundred and seventy five page report from the er clinic here did yes, because I had to get as records. It was I think one hundred and seventy five pages something else.

00:12:50
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't doubt it. Yeah, after all of the things that we went through. I don't doubt it was one hundred and seventy five pages. I was like, ah, just some light reading. Perfect.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: So yeah, I get the report that comes through and I'm like, oh my god. And so what happened with our friend Cash?

00:13:09
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, it was so trauatic. It was awful. It was awful. We're like, no, I need therapy, honestly, no joke. I okay, I'm trying to back up. So it was what month was it? I think the November October it was pumpkin season. Yeah, maybe November. Yeah, I think it was November, maybe early December. I can't remember. It was after Halloween, after or maybe right around Thanksgiving, which is why we still had pumpkins. Yeah, but there was an old, dried up pumpkin stem that Cash found in true lab fashion. He's like, look at the stick, look at this, so proud of him pumpkin stem, and so he was like showed She was like showing off, showing it to me, and we were outside walking around and he's like prancing around with the stick and is now and that that was it? And I was like, all right, you know, I didn't think about it. And honestly until after all this is over, and I was like, oh my gosh, I know what it was. So I let the dogs in that night, trying to go back in my brain the story. Thomas Stratt was gone, he was out of town, and I.

00:14:23
Speaker 2: Was always happened when the husbands are out of town, always happens.

00:14:29
Speaker 1: Thomas Jrrette was about to know I was about to leave the next morning, and so I think he was coming home. There was there was a moment where I was having to leave. He was already gone, and my sister in law was coming to stay with the girls until he got back home. And through the night, I can't remember what happened. I think I may have had a kid in my bed with me, which happens a lot when he's not here. One of them maybe may have been in bed with me, and that's part of the reason why I wasn't up checking on cash. Also, for better or her worse, our dogs just have accidents in our house. I'm like, what did you eat that made you throw that up? Honestly, like, where did that come from? What? But he he specifically finds things and we'll just destroy he'll chew it up. He'll throw it up later, or he won't throw it up and it comes out and You're like, how did that make it all the way through your body? But that's just the yard is like a sock coop land mine crazy. And so I could hear him kind of like coughing or like, you know, he was trying to get something up, and I'm like, good gracious, and I remember thinking, oh gosh, then no judgment, please. I'm like, there's probably vomit somewhere on the floor and I am tired going to go to bed, but it was like middle of the night. I could hear it, and I was like and then stopped and I was like, okay. And the other thing about Cash, he's terrified as storms. He's an anxious little buddy, and he will come to get me because I'm a person if anything makes him uncomfortable. He is right there next to my bed looking at me, going, hey, you got to figure this out, because there's a storm forty five miles away and I'm telling you it is headed straight for us, and you got a round up the troops. We need to go to the basement. And like that's what he does. He never said a word and so I took that as he didn't say anything to me, and he always talks to me, you know, in the way that they talked to us, and he didn't say anything. So I went back to sleep and slept so hard, as most moms do with kids who sleep for the night. You just sleep really great at night because you're exhausted during the day. And I woke up the next morning early because I had to go to the airport. My sister in law was on her way over. I think actually all of my kids were still asleep that really, and he was still he was standing like on the edge of one of my couches, like off to the side, and he was standing in a weird, like a weird stance, like he was like waiting to throw up, but nothing was happening. And then he had like drool, you know, coming from a sea, yes, And so I was like, oh, man, like you know, usually that means that their stomach's upset or they're really nauseated or whatever. And I'm like, oh man, buddy, like you didn't get it up, whatever it is. But he was making such a weird noise that I was like, what is that. He was like panting kind of but not able to pant.

00:17:42
Speaker 2: And I'll and by the way, you're a nurse, so you know, like right, and something's really wrong.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. So like instantly in my spirit it was like, hey, this is way more than just an upset stomach. Something is going on here. And I remember I was already running a little late, not chalking, and so I was like, okay, I'm gonna let him off the front door and just kind of see what he does. And so also with Cash, as soon as he goes out, he does his business, and he is right back in the door, right next to my leg, looking at me like all right, what's next? What do we do? And I let him outside. I went to go get my bags. I came back and I kept waiting for one of the doors to be opened, because we have the doors where you can you know, they're they're the handle that if you pull down on the handle and push the door open, and Cash can actually from the outside open the door and let himself in. Perfect. So I came back out and I'm like, the doors are still closed. He didn't come back in, And it was one of the Nashville mornings that was freezing cold, like pull or of varteil. Hello, freezing, very very cold, and you know dogs aren't. He's not one to just go sit out in the cold for forever. And I bet it had been probably fifteen or twenty minutes, and I knew it was like my spirit went from like, hey, this is a little bit more to like, hey, this is not. Like he's not okay. And so Mackenzie, my sister in law, walks in and she's like, good morning, and you know, she's and I'm like, I think something's really wrong and She's like what, And I'm like, I don't know where Cash is, but I think, like he's really sick something. He's making a weird noise and in my mind, I'm going, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe, Like that was the noise I was hearing. That was the whole thing. And then the guilt of like, oh my gosh, he did this all night long, totally alone. I am like falling apart and then I can't find him and I'm like, I something is wrong, Like we need to call the emergency VET. Was so early in the morning. I was like, We've got to call the emergency VET. And I think we need to get him in. I guarantee you the rest of my family if they'd been here, they would have been like no, no, And even Mackenzie a little bit, she was like, are really you know, like, are you sure? Like how many t have we been to the emergency bed for cash? Honestly, I can't even tell you because he just eats everything inside or he breaks a bone doing something insane. Oh, but I just knew. I knew. And so I went outside and I'm calling his name. She goes out the side door calling his name. And We've got a fairly big yard, and I'm like, I don't see him anywhere. It's freezing outside, and so I go out and I'm like looking around, and he had gone so far away on the other side of these trees and kind of like buried himself behind the trees and was just laying in the cold grass. And I was like, oh, my god, is so tramadish. I'm like, he is like trying to go away from me because he doesn't want you know that I've heard.

00:20:52
Speaker 2: Yes, it's very classic for like herd animals and really any kind of animal that like travels in a pact when they're going to die to like go off and find their own little place to pass away.

00:21:03
Speaker 1: To me sick. It makes me sick because he's been such a comfort and a buddy and just loved me so well. Our whole family. Thomas Shraret would say the same thing if you gave him enough time. But it just made me sick. That he didn't say something and that he was alone. It broke me. And when I saw him in the sideyard, I like bolted. I took off running and I this is sounds dramatic, I'm not being dramatic. I literally threw my body over him and I was like, no, no, nobody. I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm gonna just like just crying. I'm like, I'm so sorry. Meanwhile, my friends are pulling up for me to get in the car to go to the airport, and I'm just weeping over this dog and they're like, are you okay. I'm like, no, something is really wrong. I don't think he can breathe. I think something is either stuck in there or and he was trying to get it off all night long. Anyways, I call the emergency VAT. I tell him what's going on, and They're like, well, he's breathing. I'm like barely, like some like something is in there that needs to come out. And so I'm thinking they're going to go in, They're going to find what it is. They're going to remove it, or maybe he's having a reaction to something his throat is, you know, either way, they can give him something to like for the swelling to go down, to remove the thing, whatever it is. That's where my brain went. Well, they get him in and I'm you know, before I go to the airport, I'm like literally crying over him, telling him how much I love him, telling him how sorry I am, and just I kept saying why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me buddy? And I literally prayed over him, and I was like, Lord Jesus, please don't let this be the last like how I see him like, it's going my guilt is going to eat me up if I know that he did this all night long and I chose to go back to sleep. It is so traumatic, which for you know, as a pet mom, is a very traumatic pet story. Yes, And so he goes and it was a very long, one hundred and seventy five page specifically process to figure out what in the actual heck happened to Little Cash. But once they got him in, I'm, you know, sitting at the airport and our flight's about to board, and I'm like, do I need to cancel? Do I need to come in? And They're like, honestly, you are welcome to come sit with him. I do think every time someone has been here this morning and it's someone he knows, it makes him more excited, and it like all of his vitals kind of starts to crash again. Yeah, anyways, he fully crashed, and they were like, do you want us to intubate? How do you want us to proceed? And I was like, honestly, this can't be how I tell him by like, I need one more moment on the couch where he knows that I love him, appreciate him, Like I would never intentionally leave him alone all night long to be that by himself, right, So I'm like, yes, indubate him. Thomas Rhett was I don't know, I can't remember where he was, but I couldn't get a hold of in, and so I'm like, yes, just do it, Just do it.

00:24:13
Speaker 2: And just to give the listeners a little context. What happened was he lacerated his trachea, and we think it probably was a pumpkin stem. Like he's running with the pumpkin stem, he falls our trips and that goes down the back of his throat and makes a huge cut into his airway, which is like inches two inches failing in the wind. So they intubate him and put him on a ventilator.

00:24:34
Speaker 1: But we didn't know there was a laceration until like because it was so swollen. Four days in yeah, I mean this was I can't remember how many days, like five, six, five, maybe five total. He was a nice you for like almost a week it was. Anyways, so Christmas morning, yes this was before Christmas. So Christmas morning, I'm like, I'm like, I'm gonna put cash on a leash. I'm gonna walk him in front of our kids and be like, Merry Christmas kids, Chrismas gift, this most expensive dog in America and he'll lie here Christmas gift this year. Because Tom strak kid being like I'm sorry, what are they doing? But you know they would do a little bit more and be like we think it's gonna be okay, and they're like don't cancel your flight, get on your flight. There's nothing you can do right now. He's here and unless you want to come in, there's nothing you can do. And so I'm like, well, I'm not gonna go in there because he's gonna look at me like take me home, don't leave me in here. Yeah, and I'm not trying to do that. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go, but call me if anything changes. Well, he crashed. They intubated him, and then it was this whole roller coaster of like, we still don't know. These are the vitals, here's these lab reports all, and they're like, we're gonna try this, and then they would slowly excavate and then he'd get worse. Yes, it was awful. And then finally, finally, after I think like the fourth day, the swelling had gone down enough that they were able to look back there and that's when they called and they were like, we found it. He has a two inch hole basically in the back of his throat and they're like, do you know of anything, And I'm like, I have no idea. I mean, I didn't even know that he was hurt. He came in that night before and just laid down. But it just took time for it to like the trauma to build up and to swell and for him to start to, you know, slowly suffocate is what he was doing. It makes me sick I think about it. But he did finally kind of come out of it. But the crazy part is, you know a lot of times with humans, if you're a lot older and you go through a lot of that, like intubating and kind of being in and out of it, a lot of times our bodies as humans don't do super well afterwards. I mean, you're already older, but when you come out of that, you were like one hundred years older, yes, much older, unable to walk as well, unable to see, like all the thing just everything kind of starts to tank. Yeah, and so he's eleven. I was like, when I asked the VAT, I'm like, so what is this? Like? Is he going to be our dog on the other side of this? And she was like, honestly, I know that he's older, but like he's healthy. He's a healthy boy, he's active, And so I was just like, what are we gonna who are we going to be picking up when this finally Anyways, he pulled through. He made it. But when we's he's a little he's a thicker, a thicker puppy. And when I picked him up, he looked half the size because they tried to get him to eat something once he was able to use his throat again, and he would not touch an ounce of food, just not like him. No, he wouldn't eat. And I think truly he was like, I have no will to live. I've been in here for almost a week. I don't want to live in here. And I just and he was so weak, had a hard time walking, had such a hard time. We had to have this thing that kind of like went underneath him and kind of we could help. We could pull up and help his back legs stand up a little bit just to walk into the car. But he couldn't use his back legs for days, yeah, almost a week, I mean, even just trying to go over these we have two little steps right here, and he would fall all the time. And I was like, oh my gosh, is this about to be Are we about to have this dog that is almost crippled because of all of this trauma. And slowly I would, you know, wet his food. And I was like boiling chicken. I'm like, what do you what can I do for you to try to get some kind of protein. He slowly, slowly was like, okay, I'll try, but I think he was traumatized from what happened here, and he's like, I don't want to put anything else like that hurt.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: He also, to mention, got a tracheotomy, which is not like that is not super common, which is when they were.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: Like normally at small dogs, we do this too. I'm like, wait, will, he's one hundred and twenty.

00:28:58
Speaker 2: Pounds, like he's a big boy, and he's got a lot of thick like neck rolls.

00:29:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's when, oh my gosh, I know that was awfully. The first I texted you, I was like, hey, could you just come there's something you were coming over prezilia, But I was like, also, can you just look at his nets? Yeah, I'm like, need be someone else to do this.

00:29:20
Speaker 2: And it was the scab on his tracheotomy site was.

00:29:25
Speaker 1: Huge, rely gnar.

00:29:26
Speaker 2: Really so sometimes my job, honestly though, I don't know how like you did humans, I would take a throat scab or dog poop or vomit over humans, I think because really, yeah.

00:29:36
Speaker 1: I think the opposite, which is probably why exactly.

00:29:41
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'll take your throat scab off, no problem, no gloves needed.

00:29:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just a lot of hair.

00:29:46
Speaker 2: It was crusty, Yeah it was cross. But now, I mean compared to when the first time I saw him, after that to now, I mean, he's up, He's running around, his tails wagging, like, yeah, he is full of He.

00:30:00
Speaker 1: Talks now, like not even vocally, but the way that I feel like your animals talk to you. He didn't talk for a very long time after. It's like I would say something to him and he just was like blank, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this just wrecked him. He's never coming back. And I was happy to have him here. But it took about a week and then I would say something and he would kind of look at me and I'd be like, oh, you do want to talk. You are still here, you want to And now he is back, and he's back at eleven years old and he's going to live his ever his life. And one of the reports it was like for follow up and like moving forward, Cash is never allowed to have any stick again. I was like, well, I don't know, I'm gonna avoid that. I mean, I get it because that was really horrible, but sure, I you know, at the end of the day, they are dogs. I don't know.

00:30:59
Speaker 2: Monny will make recommendations and I'm like, as I'm riding at like, this is never gonna happen.

00:31:04
Speaker 1: But I have to say, recommending this is probably the best thing. If this could happen in a perfect world. Yeah, yeah from mellow Stick sweet that they were like, are you recommending he never has another stick? Don't let him chew on a stick. It's like that's gonna be.

00:31:20
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, okay, I'm just trying to remember to brush my own teeth just at this point.

00:31:26
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Okay.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: One of my other favorite stories about coming over here is one time I walk in and you are barefoot with your foot up on the counter, your feet, and you're like, I don't usually sit with my feet on the counter, but I have hurt myself getting off my horse.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: And I love that.

00:31:45
Speaker 2: You're a horse girl. Have you had horses? Have you always been a horse girl.

00:31:49
Speaker 1: I've always loved him. I've never had a horse. Okay, And so having Daisy is ma She's my sweet little mustang from Wyoming and and she's she's so awesome. She's a little wild child, but she broke when you got her. When you say mustang, I'm like, oh lord, that sounds yeah. She was very green okay, but she had had a saddle on her okay. And I think the guy that worked with her before was super super kind to her, and so she's he did a great job with her, and she was new. We both kind of learned together because the way I grew up learning horses was very much like I love that horse, I'm gonna jump the fence and me and my friends are gonna go ride my friends horses. Yeah, without a whole lot of direction, reckless, abandoned, Yeah, no helmets, just out there right. Yeah. And so this time around, I was our horse trainer who just she she helps me take care of our horses because they're at our We have farmland like twenty five minutes from our house and that's they stay, and so she goes out and checks on them when we can't be there, and she works with them and she's incredible. But I just told her, I'm like, I love horses, and I have my own experiences and what I do on horses, but I just want you to pretend like I know nothing and start me over the way the way it's supposed to work, give me a good foundation, a good foundation. So it was sweet because I try to relearn things the right way, which has been so much fun and a great way to ride a horse. And then she's kind of learned also, so we're kind of like learning at the same time. Sweet and she's awesome. She I probably try things with her that people would recommend that you don't, but I'm like, she trusts me. I trust her, and she's so good to me because she is, and so I'll jump up on her bare in the field in the past yure sometimes no bridle, yeah, and just because she's not super tall. And so I'm like, if I need to abandon ship, I can just hop off. And I have done that before, but I'm usually doing it in my riding boots. Yeah, you know. Yeah. So we were just playing out of the farm one day and we had some friends over spending the night. We were all staying out there, and I can't even remember what we were doing in the field, but I wasn't even working with her nothing, but somebody I can't remember. She and I somehow ended up in the pasture together, just hanging out, and I just jumped up on her for a second and something happened and she kind of started to move fast. And we have this little section of trees in this one pasture, and she started to go toward these low hanging trees and I was like, oh, no, no, no, I don't want to try to do that, and so I went to get off of her quickly, and as I did, I had muck boots on, like like thick, heavy, very.

00:35:01
Speaker 2: Not sturdy, no, not so just yeah, are the rubber ones rubber?

00:35:06
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, just zero support zero Yeah, not great, but they're thick, you know, thick, heavy boots. And I tried to come off for and as I did, one of my boots kind of just didn't let allow me to come off the way that I should have, and so she as she was going, I was trying to come off, and I just came off completely sideways and landed just on my right foot, my right leg. But as I did, I just you know, just landed perfectly on the side enough that my body weight rolled my ankle like nothing, endy degrees. And I don't know much about ankle sprains and tearing ligaments and things like that. But it was a grade three. Is that what he said? I can't remember either way. He said, you tore up your ankle, and I did. I totally both sides just tore up the It's completely it's still kind of like swollen. It is still swollen. Oh are you still limping a little? Like there was a borderline emergency with one of my kids yesterday and she'd pulled something heavy over on top of her and I am trying to sprint through the house and like willing my ankle to move, and it was like totally frozen and I'm like trying to run fast and like move, ankle move. This is like so yeah, it's still not back to normal, but I'm able. I'm like walking without my brace. And is this all episodes full of traumatic stories? What in the world. I'm just kidding. We really are not a traumatic family most of the time. Holing my ankle will move. My child's got something heavy on top of her. Doctor, that's amazing. And how how old is Daisy? She's let's see when I met her, I was pregnant with Lily those four years ago, and I think she has that that brand you know that mustangs have on their neck, and I think it tells you, like all the things. I need to shave it down and look at it and see either his But I think she's probably like nine, Okay, she's getting out like more mature now eight.

00:37:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's not as a good mayor. There's nothing better than a good mayor.

00:37:24
Speaker 1: But they're also total divas, oh totally.

00:37:27
Speaker 2: And they're so smart. It's kind of like the girl dogs.

00:37:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's so much like ConA, and then our geldings are so much like exactly the same way. It's so funny. But it's funny because where COONa is like Thomas Shreett's person and I'm Cash is or the other way around, he is her person. Daisy is for sure getting more attached. Yeah, I agree with that.

00:37:50
Speaker 2: Has Thomas ever written a song about the dogs or animals?

00:37:57
Speaker 1: He has mentioned them in songs for sure. Yeah, there's a couple of songs. I feel like he's got lines in there about something something in our dogs or what is it? My gosh, this is horrible. It's another one of those episodes of like Lauren doesn't know her husband's music. It is something we got I'm twenty five. What is the song sixteen? I can't say the line, but if you go look it up, it's there. The dogs are twenty five drinking wine something. I've got a couple of dogs, a couple of songs on the radio. There it is, that's it, that's They're mentioned there. Your biggest fan. I really am. Listen.

00:38:37
Speaker 2: I have your stuff. You keep everything together, and you can't recite lyrics.

00:38:44
Speaker 1: Will take it. It's okay, thank you. I need to hear take it.

00:38:46
Speaker 2: Do the dog to the dogs ever go on tour or hit the road?

00:38:49
Speaker 1: I can't. They did, okay, and then we just don't tour with him really anymore. Our girls are older.

00:38:54
Speaker 2: Imagine packing up all four of your children. Yeah, the dogs going on with we do? Will go to the beach with the dogs, okay.

00:39:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I have an extra long jeep. I grew up My family grew up with an Excel suburban, and I have the jeep version of that now. And we piled up and drove to the beach, and so it's got the third row. But then like the extra space in the back, and you're all in there. We're all get nine, we're all in there. So I put the younger three in the first the bench in the middle of the truck, and then obviously the front two seats, and then Willa Gray, my oldest, she got the third row and I she sat in the third row, and then Cash I had him climb. I'm trying to think how I did this. I think we laid the seat down, Cash climbed in with wille Gray, put the seat back up. Ada James sat in that seat, and so Cash literally the whole ride laid in will the Gray's lab me home, and then ConA had the back to herself with all the bags. I cannot imagine. It was so I felt so just like we're our whole family, all six of us plus our two dogs, were going on a little We're all together adventure and everybody's is everyone like keeping themselves entertained? Or is it just like fighting screaming, laughing. There are moments where somebody's like, I had that Barwie. You know, she she took it. We're not you can't take well, I don't know how to take. You're right, we're not allowed to take. Lennon, give it back, don't take from Lily. But I wanted to turn with it. There was a little bit of that, but for the most part, it's like, can you turn this song on? And everybody's singing to the song and I'm like, okay, we can turn it up not too loud because we do have dogs in the car. And ye also consider what they to Dad's music. They do. That's cute they do. They'll have they'll request lots of things, but every now and then we'll request requests and they're like, play daddy song that says this, and I have to kind of like decipher. I'm like, what song is that. Let's think about that. Is it mainly country that they request? Yes? Yeah, well no, Well so my little two are still like, you know, love Disney music and like Frozen. Yeah, Muana Tou right now is Lily's big thing. She's like, turn on let A almost said, let it go. There's a song. I'm not going to try to remember it, but there is a song like every single day, and she definitely loves kind of get a Cheat who Okay, if there's any one or two fans out there, we should we love that song. But the older two really they love music. They can dance too, and I feel like they they love country music too, but they also really they like a variety that's cute. They just love to dance. That's precious. They want a song that makes you feel like you can dance, and I'm here for it. You're like, and we love that. Yeah, that's funny.

00:41:54
Speaker 2: Thing does Okay, I'm only asking this because I'm in love with your mom. Your mom is now one of my clients and she if you listening, Lisa, I love you. She's like the most beautiful, kind, warm person I've ever met.

00:42:06
Speaker 1: Does she go down to the beach with you, guys? She does a lot. She's actually there right now, is she? Oh? Yeah, I did know this. Yeah, her birthdays coming up and she's there with her one of her best friends for their birthdays together. That's so cute. She's actually, it's so nice.

00:42:19
Speaker 2: You've got your whole family here, and I'm sure everyone can all kind of help.

00:42:23
Speaker 1: Today's a village. It's sweet. We have a lot of fun, and when we all get together, you know, there's twenty something of us and it's so much fun. I love getting to do life with family close by. So we feel very blessed to have our community so close and then our you know, not not family, family close. Yeah, everyone is really close. But I do think I think Nashville is a sweet community and I think a lot of people feel that way about their community here. Absolutely, but it's nice having our families close. Yes, I mean it's a huge help to huh. Yeah, everybody came on. Yeah, we go. Everybody comes here, they come, they bring their dogs. Just it's a whole big party. It's a lot of people, a lot of pets. Sure, and we love it. I love it.

00:43:19
Speaker 2: All right, And we are back and we are going to do our paw.

00:43:23
Speaker 1: And Order of the week.

00:43:26
Speaker 2: Or can't hear this, but right now it's playing this don't dun dug music.

00:43:31
Speaker 1: It's amazing.

00:43:32
Speaker 2: And this is a segment where I tell owners three things I would never do with my own pets as a veterinarian. The first of which you made me think about earlier when you said that you took Kna to the dog park. And this is not meant to shame you, but I do tell owners I would not take my new puppies to dog parks exactly for the reason that, yeah, I.

00:43:50
Speaker 1: Feel that you found out I'm on your same page now and.

00:43:53
Speaker 2: It searched me because we like tell you, hey, socialize them, get them out there. So of course owners are gonna be like, let's go to the.

00:43:59
Speaker 1: Dog and it feels easy. You're like, they just want to run, let's just take them. Yeah, it does. It feels. It feels easy till it's not.

00:44:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, until it alls till it's not. Skind No, so I get why owners, you get. And to be fair, I used to take my dog there back into bed school, and then I quickly realized that that is where.

00:44:18
Speaker 1: They get into fights.

00:44:19
Speaker 2: If they're really small, they're going to get picked on. A lot of the dogs will like gang up on other dogs. And really, I've just found that nothing good comes from the dog park.

00:44:28
Speaker 1: Oh kay, I feel that really honestly, Why didn't I know.

00:44:32
Speaker 2: You ten years thirteen years thirteen years ago? Get well, now you know? And so I do have owners say well, what am I supposed to do? Then? And if you can find a neighbor or a friend or a family member that has another dog that plays really nicely, that's a great way to socialize.

00:44:47
Speaker 1: But yeah, I would avoid the dog park. Yeah, well, now we now say less, okay, okay.

00:44:53
Speaker 2: Number two on the list today is I would not This is also something you have reminded me of. I would not neglect to my barn or outdoor cats, and you and Thomas rat have barn cats.

00:45:04
Speaker 1: I've never had a cat before. My mom's alert lady speaking of Oh she's yeah, she's really allergic. And so we were just never allowed to have them. But we have them now and I love them. I honestly, my whole life have been like people are like dogs or cats, and I'm like dogs all day long, which I still for sure, but I love our barn cats. Not only do they keep the barn really clean, but they get along. I was telling you, you know how you know, treat oriented Cache is and the cats were getting a little treat one day, like a little it's like a spoon that's almost like the peanut butter consistency, and one of our cats was licking the treat in a little bit got on his nose and Cash is coming up, and it took a while. I was like, are they going to hurt each other? Like, you know, dogs and cats don't get along, And thankfully everybody is buddies now, so much so that when Pumpkin did have a little bit of extra food on his face, Cash I look over and Cash is licking his face. He's like, I'll get that for you. He's licking his face and Pumpkin's head is going like bat Pumpkin has whiplash every time Cash is tongue okay in his face. I was like, actually, I am so here for dog and cat. We're one of my podcast episode.

00:46:19
Speaker 2: We were talking about inner species relationships like a dog and a cat, a duck and a donkey, like those when they become friends.

00:46:25
Speaker 1: So cute. Yeah, it's the cutest thing in the world. Explosion, It's so cute. But yeah, you've educated me a lot on my barn cat and cats.

00:46:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean it's just like any other pet, and they need to maybe more so they need to have more vaccines than the average. Are getting ready to spay and neuter them, which is super important, and wondering maybe if Mittens is pregnant.

00:46:44
Speaker 1: We're trying to keep it to three cats right now, but we shall see.

00:46:48
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring you on on season four and so, and you'd be like, no, I'm an owner of twenty five cats.

00:46:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:46:55
Speaker 2: So I just always tell people like make sure those cats are still getting all like the basic in this care that all of your indoor pets are getting as well.

00:47:02
Speaker 1: So and you guys do a great check with that.

00:47:05
Speaker 2: When I guess this will bring me to my last point and Cash licking pumpkins face makes me think of this. A lot of times owners will call me and say, hey, my cat has a cold or my dog has diarrhea, and they wonder like, can my cat get this from my dog? Or vice versa, can I get this.

00:47:22
Speaker 1: From my pets?

00:47:24
Speaker 2: And it's not all the time, but most of the time these things are species specific.

00:47:29
Speaker 1: That's so nice. We actually just had sickness go through the house last week and I did think, I'm like, who have the dogs licked or eaten after? Are they going to get the stomach bug? Yeah, that my kids have. Thankfully everybody was fun dogwise.

00:47:43
Speaker 2: A really big one was COVID. People were really stressed like can my dogt it? Can I get it from my dog? Can I give it to my dog? And we found out that that's not the case. And so the majority of those viruses, like neuural virus and the flu, we don't get from our pets. So it gives you a little extra reassurance. So when Cash is looking everyone's.

00:48:02
Speaker 1: Face after everyone's face.

00:48:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are in the clear, perfect yep.

00:48:09
Speaker 1: One last thing for you to worry about. That's right, that's right.

00:48:11
Speaker 2: So that is the end of our pond order and the end of our episode. Thank you so much for coming on today.

00:48:17
Speaker 1: My gosh, I've loved you being here and honestly just oh well, you take care of our animals and we're just really grateful for you. And I'm just glad that my dogs don't tuck their tail and run when you come through the house. Me too.

00:48:31
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, I'm not wearing a hat, I don't have a dolly of boxes.

00:48:34
Speaker 1: You actually are phenomenal. I'm going to wear uniforms. I don't see you as a bet I hope not. I try my hardest. It's good because they don't love the vet, but they do love you.

00:48:44
Speaker 2: That makes me very happy, grateful for you. Well, I'm grateful for you, guys. It is definitely a privilege to take care of them and have great owners like you both, So thank you. Thanks for having me and guys. As always, be sure to rate reviews, subscribe, let me know if you have any questions. You can always d in on Instagram. At Doctor Joe Civett, and we'll see you next week.