Transcription

• Donie Yamamoto

  My dog starts destroying a pillow out of nowhere. Welcome to Unleash Curiosity by Vital Pet Life.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  I'm Dr. Amber Da Silva, veterinarian and advocate for integrative pet care.

• Donie Yamamoto

  And I'm Donie Yamamoto, founder and CEO of Vital Pet Life. We're so glad you're here.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  This is a space where curiosity, compassion, and science converge, where we explore the powerful mind-body connection that supports your pet's health and your own.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Each week, we'll dive deep into the world of pet wellness. breaking down myths, exploring ingredients, and learning from expert voices across the industry.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  From nutrition and sustainability to transparency and advocacy, we're here to help you feel more confident, connected, and informed in your care choices.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Let's get into it because when we know better, we do better. This is Unleashed Curiosity. Welcome back to Unleashed Curiosity. Today, we're talking about something that shows up in almost every pet parent's life at some point. And most of us misread it. it completely. Dr. Amber, I want to start with a scenario. My dog starts destroying a pillow out of nowhere. My first instinct is he's being bad. Is that fair or what do you think?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Well, almost never. That's one of the most common signs of a bored dog and it's not a discipline problem. It's an unmet need. So I've had clients that come in after their dogs have destroyed an entire couch. They, you know, ate the blinds. They, you know, dug up the carpet. And a lot of times it is like under stimulation. They're bored. They're trying to keep their minds busy. And so they do whatever they can to stimulate their brains.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Okay, so walk us through it. What does a bored dog actually look like day to day? Do they look like this guy's here?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  No, your dogs are... are very stimulated and happy. So there's a few patterns that show up again and again, like chewing things that aren't toys and digging where there's nothing to dig for, barking and nothing in particular, pacing. Some dogs get clingy and they can't settle down unless they're right on top of you. And none of that is really like the dog trying to be difficult. It's a dog with a brain that's... built to problem solve and hunt and move and a day that gives them almost none of that.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Well, that reframe matters. It's not my dog is a problem. It's like it's my dog's day. It doesn't match what my dog's brain actually needs.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah. Yeah. And that's true whether you have one dog or five dogs. It's about the individual animal's day, not about how attentive the owner is necessarily.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Yeah, well, What about cats? I mean, I don't know how cats behave. Like, I feel like people assume cats are just naturally aloof and that's just, you know, cats being cats.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah, I think that assumption unfortunately causes a lot of missed boredom in cats. So a bored cat often gets more destructive too. So they knock things over, they scratch the furniture more aggressively, they overgrew even to the point of... bald patches. Some cats get louder. Some just go in the opposite direction and sleep more usual and just disengage. And yeah, so I guess this is a good place to mention about cats specifically. So they can have a condition called psychogenic alopecia. And basically, it's boredom, they need stimulation. And so they chew on their own hair. They chew and they pull their hair out. So, you know, if you see your cat like excessively grooming, for sure there's medical conditions that can cause that, but it also could be a sign of boredom.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Well, I'm guessing birds show it too, right? Like I've seen it on videos.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah. I mean, birds are actually one of the clearest examples. So... You see the feather plucking, the repetitive pacing on the perch and excessive screaming. And in a lot of cases, that's an animal with a highly intelligent brain that just has nothing to do with it.

• Donie Yamamoto

  So across species, the theme is the same. The behavior we call bad is often just a bored brain looking for a job.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah, I mean, that's the whole reframe. Boredom isn't a character. flaw in the pet and it's not a failure by the pet parent. It's a mismatch between an animal's instincts and the modern indoor lifestyle. So once you see it that way, it's actually solvable.

• Donie Yamamoto

  So if this is so common, why does it feel like it's showing up more than it used to?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  I think there are a few reasons. More pets live indoors full time and more households have just one pet instead of a pair that entertains each other. And then our schedules are busier. So a walk around the block or a bowl set down twice a day is often. the whole day's stimulation. And none of that makes anyone a bad parent. It's just what our modern life looks like. And it means that the enrichment has to be something, you know, intentional that we build on purpose instead of just assuming that the day provides it. And, you know, we have to remember that just a few generations ago, you know, dogs and cats were wild. working, they were hunting or they're, you know, were like sheepdogs. And, you know, so not very long ago, they actually had a job rather than, you know, being an indoor couch potato pet. And so that's just, you know, it's in their genes to be active and working and problem solving. Yeah.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Okay. So what actually works? Let's start with dogs. Like, how can we help? them more stimulated, like, you know, how they can feel like they're working?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah, that's a great question. And it's actually the simplest thing is with food. And so instead of just eating, like putting down their bowl and letting them eat from there, you want them to work for their food. So there's, you know, a lot of things on the market now, like snuffle mats or frozen food puzzles, or even like scattering the kibble around and they search. for it. They have to run around and get it, maybe dropping some into the grass and they kind of have to move around and use their sense of smell to find, you know, so it's like this hide and seek game. And just doing those things can take like a 15 second mill and turn it into a 15 minute problem solving session, which is really cool, you know, because sometimes like if you just put the bowl down and they snarf it right down. then, you know, it's all over so fast. And so if we can find a way to make it, make it fun, make it a game. The other thing is scent games. They're really underrated, but hiding a few treats around the room and letting them sniff out taps into exactly that part of the brain that was chewing the couch, trying to satisfy itself.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Yeah. I mean, you don't need a big yard or fancy gear for any of that. But I think, let me go back

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  to like the scent like again we need to be careful to what kind of scent we put it's like you know there's a lot of synthetic scents out there perfumes and all this stuff and yeah yeah so i i'm thinking more of like natural treats with different you know there's a lot of like like my dog loves these freeze-dried liver treats and i think they smell absolutely horrible but they're her favorite thing ever you know so like engaging uh so finding different treats with different smells and kind of hiding them around yeah yeah and and yeah like you don't even have to have something super fancy like a cardboard box with some treats in it gets you most of the way there yeah like tuxedo always in the morning like he always waits for his puzzle so i

• Donie Yamamoto

  try to alternate like what toy or puzzle he has to do today he just cube weights on it yeah that's perfect yeah well what about cats Since a lot of us assume they're just independent by nature, like what do they also need like stuff to do?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah, for sure. You know, vertical space is huge for cats. So cats, you'll see them, you know, perching up in a window or jumping up on the cupboard or whatever because they like to be elevated. So if you can put a perch in a window or a cat tree or even on top of a bookshelf, it gives them a job. It gives them a place to... you know, to sit and like survey the situation and patrol like a little police cat. And then, you know, rotating toys that you use. So a cat may get bored with the same toy really fast. But if you kind of like put some of them away and swap them out every once in a while, then it's like, oh, there's a new toy. And so that they don't, they don't ever get bored with the same things. And then a few minutes of real interactive. play like one of the wand toys or a laser pointer you know it lets them complete that hunting sequence like the stalking chase pounce and catching and then that you know that sequence being completed matters more than really the total time that you spend and you know i mentioned a cardboard box. I've even recommended this for indoor cats, not only for the... mental stimulation, but for even like burning some calories, because it's, it's hard for indoor cats to exercise, you know, like. You can take a dog for a walk, but taking a cat for a walk is not as easy, you know, but like using some of that for, for exercise too, you know, feeding them on a different level of the house. So they have to run up a flight of stairs to get to their food or something like that, you know, so we're, we're burning more calories and we're stimulating them mentally. The other thing that I'm a real big fan of are like Hunter. They're kind of like these little feeders. So I'm a fan of this brand called Doc and Phoebe's. And they're little mouse-shaped feeders. So you can put the kibble inside and there's little holes. And then you can hide them. And so the cat has to find the mouse that has the food. And they have to bat it around to get their food out. I actually recommended this to my mom's cat and she goes nuts over it. She loves it so much. So, you know, then they're like, they're hunting and they're exercising and they're playing with while they're eating. So that's a big shout out to Doc and Phoebe's feeders.

• Donie Yamamoto

  That's cool. Well, what's the one thing you wish every pet parent knew walking away from this episode?

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  I mean, I think, you know, we don't we don't want to feel guilty about how. we have to live our lives, how we have to work and go to school or whatever. And so it's, it's rarely like a time issue. It's just more variety. You know, it's focused minutes of the right kind of engagement does more, you know, if you do 10 minutes of focused play, it does more than an hour of the same walk or the same toy sitting in the same spot. So, you know, any, any little time you have just Hopefully you can take some of the things that we've talked about and incorporate that into your routine and really enrich the environment of your pet. And a cat or dog that's mobile and comfortable, it's a lot easier to engage with and play with enrichment, which is why part of joint and mobility support matters at every life stage, not just for seniors. You know, and just like I've mentioned. you know, like exercising for cats and things like that. So it really does kind of play into their overall health as well.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Yeah. So if your dog's been extra chewy lately or your cat's snuck one too many things off the counter, it might not be a behavior problem at all. It might just be a bored brain asking for a job. So Dr. Amber, thank you again for giving a light. to this behavioral issues that we encounter with our animals.

• Dr. Amber Da Silva, DVM

  Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks, Donnie.

• Donie Yamamoto

  Yeah. So that's it for the episode of Unleashed Curiosity. If this one hits home, share it with a fellow pet parent who might need it. Subscribe, leave a review, and we'll see you next time.