In this enlightening episode, Angie Austin sits down with Dr. Douglas B. Hutchins, renowned veterinarian and author of ‘Dr. Doug’s Animal Answers’. Join us as Dr. Doug recounts the fascinating childhood experiences on his grandfather’s dairy farm that sparked his lifelong passion for veterinary science. Despite facing academic hurdles, Dr. Hutchins shares how he navigated his way through the prestigious halls of Cornell University, and the serendipitous ways destiny paved his journey into the world of animal care.
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now with The Good News.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hello there, friend. Angie Austin with the good news. Well, I’m sure you all know that I’m a big animal lover. I’ve got five pets. And when I got married 20 some odd years ago, the rule was no pets. So apparently the rule changed over the last 20 years and got lots of kids and lots of pets. I’m excited about today’s interview. Dr. Douglas B. Hutchins is joining us and his book is Dr. Doug’s Animal Answers. Welcome to the program, Dr. Doug.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks, Angie. Pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER 03 :
So it was interesting to read about. It was a very fortuitous education when I read about all the great things that happened on the way to you becoming a vet, how many things just fell into place for you to get a great education and to get a good experience as well. But I love the story about you as a kid and what made you at a very young age to decide to be a vet. So would you mind telling us about that story with the cow story?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, my grandfather had a small dairy farm of Guernsey cows. He had 22. He milked them by hand every day. He had a beautiful farm right off Penobscot Bay, and I spent a lot of time there as a young child. And I remember going into the barn this day, and that cow was laid right out straight. I mean, I thought she was going to die. And then my grandfather said, well, I just called Dr. Brown. He’s the best vet in the world. So about a half hour later in drove Dr. Brown. He came in. And he gave the cow a bottle of calcium. She actually was suffering from milk fever. And they get a low amount of calcium because all the calcium goes into the first milk and so forth. So they get weak and they get down. So he gave her that calcium, and all of a sudden she turned in mood, like to say thank you, and jumped up on her feet, and the calf started nursing. And it was just an amazing thing that I ever saw that somebody could do that. And I thought, what a great way to make a living, working for yourself and making farmers happy, treating their animals. Being a vet at 10 years of old wanting to be one was great for me because I had a goal, got me through high school and college, and then luckily I was able to get into Cornell.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and I love the way you explain it. Like it wasn’t necessarily that these classes came like easy to you, like so many doctors, so many vets, you know, people with a higher education. I just assume that they’re math geniuses and everything comes easy to them. You know, you said that some of these things were challenging, like the chemistry, et cetera, that you had to take. So you worked really hard to get where you are.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, also, someone asked me one time, did I ever worry about flunking out of school? And I said, I never worried about flunking out. I worried about making enough money to pay the bills because I paid my own way all the way through college. I mean, my parents had five children. My father worked in a paper mill, made about three grand a year, so there was no extra money. So not only was I able to get through school, I was able to finance it on my own. I owed very little money when I finished student at Cornell. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
That really puts things into perspective for me because you had mentioned one semester that it was $1,700 for school, but then you ended up, she said, oh, you only owe $300. So I was like, oh, well, that’s nice. But then when you tell me your dad made $3,000 a year, I realize how exorbitant that amount of, you know, what that $1,700 would have been for you. So it makes a lot more sense. And then all of the great things that happened in college that had you getting help or getting positions that really helped you pay for school.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, exactly. What happened when I went to Cornell originally, I was an out-of-state student. Cornell was taking 60 students a year. 40 of them had to be in-state, and the other 20 came from all over the country, and I think they had around 500 or 600 applications for those 20 positions. They picked 100 out of the thing, and then they interviewed them, and I ended up being one of the 20 to get accepted, which was great.
SPEAKER 03 :
uh very very lucky i guess yes yes absolutely all right so let’s get into some of the questions i have um three dogs and i have two uh ragdoll cats that are huge they’re bigger than i have a bunch of pomeranians so no big animals like you’ve taken care of have you heard of the main coon cat oh yes there’s they’re huge yeah they are yeah they’re the biggest cat i believe They are beautiful. All right, well, let’s get into, I liked you talking about how you started this book during COVID. So here you are, you know, you’re a vet all these years, raising your family, spent a lot of time in Maine, which I’ve got tons of family in Maine. So I’ve been there many a summer. So I recognize your accent. My uncle once said to my husband, Mach, the lobsters are glad you’re not coming this summer because my husband could eat, Mach can eat about four lobsters that are sitting. So my uncle says they’re always relieved. when he doesn’t come for the summer. All right, so let’s talk about how the book came to be. You started, I guess, during COVID?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, we had COVID, and I had just gotten the vaccine that they originally had, and so I wasn’t sure if the effects of the vaccine. So I figured I would stay home for the winter and I’ve got a nice, uh, I got 50 acres of land and a house that was built in 1700 and an old Cape that I fixed up. So it’s a really cozy little place. So, I decided to stay there. And then I said, well, maybe I should write a book. Actually, my wife sort of encouraged me to. She said, look at all. And I had been doing a show called Dr. Doug’s Animal Answers, a radio show like Paul Harvey’s the rest of the story. Yeah, I would end it with that’s your animal answer. So I had all these different cases put together that I had been doing the radio show on. So I decided that I just put it into a book form.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love it. I love it. Well, I’d love to hear some of your animal stories and things you might think we might learn something from, some of your favorite stories or some of the favorite lessons you’ve taught, you know, some of your human patients, your animal patients, you know, owners.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, as a matter of fact, I just got through. I had to go have a hearing aid. So I have the famous story about the horse lady that – She had a rabian stallion, and what happened, she was in the hospital, and I went to visit her, and she had breast cancer that had metastasized. This was back in the early 70s. And she was having trouble hearing me, so she said, could you go get me a battery for my hearing aid? She said, I only need one. They last a month, and I don’t expect to live a month. So when I went to get the hearing aids, I went over to the drugstore. They had them in packets of three, six, and 12. So I laughed at myself, and I bought her 12 of them, took them back, and threw them on the table. She said, why did you waste your money? Well, she ended up dying on the 12th hearing aid.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness. That is so crazy.
SPEAKER 04 :
And her daughter came in, and she gave me this book that she had on animal care that was written in the late 1800s, a very, very historic book that I have on my, that I’ve kept. And she gave that to me. She wrote it, and then it was given to me after she died. But that was kind of a thing that she would last the 12 that I bought her.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right, right. What are some of your favorite animals to take care of or that you’ve taken care of over the years?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you know, it’s interesting. They’re saying now I have standard bred trotters that I’ve bred and raised. As a matter of fact, I sold one at the horse sale, and he ended up being syndicated as a stallion and stood at hand over shoe farms. Oh, wow. His name was Barhop. And so they’re now saying, who’s the man’s best friend, the dog or the horse? And, of course, what happened, the dog we domesticated, but the horse we saw someone accidentally one day jumped on a horse and started riding, and all of a sudden he could go further faster. And interestingly enough, the horse has been an incredible animal at wartime, especially Civil War and World War II. World War I, I mean. The horse pulled a lot of equipment as well as being able to ride, and there’s nothing more majestic than seeing, like George Washington was, they said, 6’2″, and when he stood on his horse, he just certainly commanded a lot of respect. Yeah. So the horse and the dog are certainly… nip and tuck as animals. I don’t know. I always like animals giving birth. What always impressed me was the minute that umbilical cord broke, the animal started breathing on his own. It was an amazing process because the circulation has to completely change. They go from a venous circulation from the mother’s placenta to the arterial circulation from their heart and so forth. So it’s a very interesting phenomenon.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, that is really cool, the miracle of life. We hear a lot about the health benefits of owning animals, and I definitely know about that. They’re so cheerful and so loving, and boy, they’re just the highlight of our house. My kids have got Six people live at the house and five pets, and two of the kids are back and forth at college. But, you know, we have a pretty full house, and definitely I know I taught my kids a lot about responsibility and love. So I’d love to hear more about what you talk about in the book about the human-animal bond.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I had this gentleman that worked for me in the clinic part-time, and we did a cesarean one day, and – You know, when you’re doing a cesarean, this was a dog, mixed breed. He had about, I think she had eight or nine puppies. So everybody’s got to grab one and shake it and get it breathing and so forth. So we passed, the guy’s name was Frank. We passed him this puppy and he started shaking and got it going and got it breathing. And then we ended up giving them the puppy. Well, Frank went to Maryland in the wintertime and came to Maine in the summer. Well, about 10 years later, The dog got sick and had cancer. So Frank calls me. And he said, my dog is sick. She’s got cancer. She was born at your place. I want her to die there. So he drove all the way from Maryland overnight, came to my clinic. So he comes in the clinic and I get ready to put her to sleep. And I had a special room in my clinic for euthanasia because a lot of people die. You know, they’re upset, they’re crying, they want to spend time with the animal. It’s a very difficult time. Yeah. So I went to take him to put him in the room and then I thought and I said, no, no, Frank. So we went in on the surgery table where she was born and we put the dog to sleep exactly on the same table she was born on like 10 or 11 years before. And he really got a kick out of that.
SPEAKER 03 :
But, you know, that part, you know, of the practice I know is, you know, it’s a difficult time. We’ve all, you know, pet owners, most of us have had to do that at some point in time. In fact, one of my dogs got really sick with Lyme disease, and you talk about that a lot in the book. Why is Lyme disease, you know, why does it pose such a risk to animals?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, risk, number one, Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, which is an organism that is in a tick. And what happens, the symptoms of Lyme can really vary. They can be very vague. They can almost look like the flu. Matter of fact, my daughter, who went to Middlebury to college, worked a summer in Nantucket, Ireland. And she came home the fall before she left for Middlebury, and she had a red rash on her neck. And I said, Lori, where did you get that rash? She says, Dad, I got bit by a tick. So then she goes back to school. So now it’s February, and she called me up almost in tears. She says, Dad, I ache all over. I can hardly move. I’m at the infirmary, and they’re telling me that I’ve got mono. And I said, Lori, you have them check them for Lyme disease. Remember that rash you had this summer when you came back from Nantucket? So they checked her, and she was like a four positive for Lyme. They put her on doxycycline. She was fine. And I’m convinced had I not known that, they never would have treated her for Lyme disease. So they call Lyme sort of the big pretender because it can mimic flu or a lot of other things, and you never think of it. Yeah, that is. Actually, it was a vaccine for humans. But what happened, they took it off the market, not because it wasn’t effective, because it wasn’t monetarily advantageous for the drug company.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, isn’t that interesting? All right, Dr. Doug, I want to make sure that people can find you. Do you have a website for Dr. Doug’s Animal Answers?
SPEAKER 04 :
I don’t have a website. They can get the book through Amazon, and then Goodreads has it, and then Dorrance Publishing sells it direct as well.
SPEAKER 03 :
Excellent. Dr. Doug’s Animal Answers, Douglas B. Hutchins. We’ll be right back with the good news.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Golden is listening to the mighty 670 KLT Denver. Hello there, Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with the good news. Hope you’re having a great day. Hey, Jim. Hey, how are you? I am great. We’re going to talk about the column this week titled Lazy or Leisure. And then I thought I’d just tell you a couple of things I saw. I went to pick up my mom in Tucson and she’s staying for a week because I’m going to Puerto Rico with one kid for spring break. I’m going to L.A. and Vegas with another kid for spring break because they’re separate spring breaks. And then my son and my husband are then going to go to Chicago for their spring break, which I love Chicago. But for spring break, I’ve been there. It’s not my idea of spring break.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I got to tell you, it’s great to be Angie at spring break.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it should be fun. I’ve never been to Puerto Rico. I’m really excited. But I want to tell you, while I was in Tucson, I went for a hike with my brother. We like to hike together. He’s very active. And we went up a mountain. And when we were hiking, there’s this white bike there, and it’s covered in flowers. It’s painted white, and it’s beautiful. a bike but it’s more of like it’s become a statue it’s like a fixed side of the mountain and so i go uh wow i gotta get a picture but that’s really beautiful with the backdrop with the saguaro uh cactuses and just it’s so pretty in tucson anyway he said oh the ghost bike and i said oh that’s what they call it it has like a name he goes yeah it’s to commemorate that the people who’ve died like they’re all over tucson i guess they haven’t been i think in los angeles as well And usually there’s a placard that explains, you know, kind of says who was there. But on this particular mountain, when my brother and I were hiking, they don’t allow cars until 11 a.m. Well, I didn’t land till two. So we’re up there after the cars are allowed on the mountain. Oh, my gosh. No wonder somebody got hit. You know, we’re facing the traffic walking so we can kind of get off into the dirt. But there’s it’s a it’s a mountain. So there are sometimes there’s no place like really to stand. And one guy must have been going like down this hill. And it’s like I think he was to go like 30. And yeah, it was terrifying. And I’m like, well, no wonder they took traffic off the hill, you know, for a certain amount of time. But it’s all because of this particular biker. um, they got, they got killed up there, but, um, I thought it was a beautiful way to like be an eye opener for people and, you know, to remember to try to get them to slow down because wherever that ghost bike is, someone died.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. It makes you think, I mean, uh, you know, it just takes a moment and you gotta be careful and, uh, you know, and I, but I’ve, I’ve run across a lot of things like that. I remember I was in, uh, paris not long after princess di was killed and crystal and i were walking along and there was i mean several acres of flowers and the policeman there and i asked what is this and he said well this is where the accident was i said so uh when are they going to take these away and he said we do every night this is since last night and they they just unbelievable you know and i am sure after all these years i’m sure there are still some that people drop off today and it’s um Yeah, it’s always good to remember. One of my favorite places in the world is Central Park. You know, it’s called Imagine, and it’s a little area in Central Park right across from the Dakota where John Lennon was shot. And it spells out Imagine in flowers, and they have chimes there. And I have never been there, but there’s somebody playing the guitar that is playing some of his music. And I don’t know if they schedule these or people do it impromptu or what, but it’s a really amazing experience.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow, that’s beautiful. All right, I’ll put that on my bucket list along with all my other trips. I’ve got family in New York and, you know, well, you know, this summer I’m going first time to Europe. Did I tell you I’m going to Europe? Yeah, yeah, it’s going to be great. Oh, yeah, we’re going to Croatia for the cruise, bike cruise where I bike, you know, and then the ship comes and picks you up after you finish your trip and you move from like island to island or something like that. and then Scotland and London and Leeds, York, and then Germany. And my friend wasn’t going to take us to Dachau, but I said I think we should add that in there and extend the trip a day or two because that’s something I think that – I know it’s upsetting, but I think it’s something you’ve got to experience because it’s just in honor of the people that died.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, one of the most moving things I’ve ever done is the Holocaust Museum in Washington. They’re on the mall, and it’s… You know, the most moving thing is you come in and you walk down this long hall, 100 yards, and along either wall on both sides, side by side, the whole length are people’s shoes. And it commemorates the people that had left their shoes and gone into the showers and never returned and were killed. It just makes you think. And not in a bad way. You know, the inscription chiseled into the marble over the door says, May we never forget. Yes. You know, and that’s the thing with the bike you were talking about and everything else. I mean, it’s good to remember.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, yeah, I would agree. Well, I just added those two, Washington, D.C., Holocaust Museum, and I put Central Park down on my little list for maybe this summer because I like to take the kids’ places that enrich their lives, even if it’s just for a weekend. Yeah. Oh, and then my daughter made a really good basketball team. And I looked at the travel schedule and I was like, are you kidding me? It’s like five trips to him. I mean, I’m like, oh, my. But, you know, it’s her. There’s two last big seasons of club basketball until they go to college. And so for her, at least. And so they travel a lot of places for allegedly for coaches to see them because some of the top teams and she one of the girls on her team is six foot four. So she’s so excited to have a big what is it called a post? What is that called? The center?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, a post player, yeah, our center.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you know what they call the girls that are tall? They call them bigs. That’s the name for them.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s what they call guys in the NBA. The bigs are the people inside, you know.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, the yokich, the bigs.
SPEAKER 05 :
I said to my husband, I’m like –
SPEAKER 03 :
I don’t think the girls want you to call them bigs. He goes, no, that’s what they call them. I’m like, oh, okay, okay, I got you, the bigs. All right, so we’re talking about your column, Winner’s Wisdom column called Lazier Leisure, and you’ve just moved your office to home. So you closed up your whole office that you were in for how many years?
SPEAKER 05 :
37 years i was in this office offices and studios and everything and now i work out of my home office and then i have offices at the university but uh how does that change yeah you know i’m a week into it and uh you know right now it just feels like i’m on you know we always closed for uh two years excuse me two two weeks between christmas and new year’s to start the new season and uh You know, it still feels a little like that right now. I don’t think it’s really dawned on me yet that this is the new normal. But so far, so good. I’m enjoying it.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you took a walk every day in your offices that, as a blind man, you’d memorize. And you’d memorize every step. And you did that every day. So are you replacing that with something?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I do some exercises here at the house and my bands. You know, I have these giant bands. Rubber bands, a whole series of them I use. Yeah, I think I’m enjoying it. And, you know, I can walk here in the neighborhood, but you’re kind of dependent on the weather. So I do this because there are no excuses.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and in Oklahoma, the weather means pretty soon very hot and very humid.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. So, boy, it’ll be interesting to see, you know, because you’re such a social guy, how that goes for you. But you’ll still have like people coming in. You’ll still do meetings. Does someone answer the phone for you if you’re at home?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Yeah, they do. And and, you know, and I am I’m enjoying it. I mean, one of the positive holdovers from COVID is the fact that I think we all learned that you don’t have to be sitting there eight to five every day. And and I’m enjoying it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. All right. All right. So your column and he’s still writing his books. He’s still doing his column. Lazy and still running the narrative television network. Lazy or leisure. So what’s this column about?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it’s about, you know, being productive. We all want to be productive, but we all have to define what that means. Productive is is meaningful progress toward a significant goal. That’s what it is. And you get to decide what the goal is. And, you know, so you can see two people laying on the beach right there in the middle of the week. And one of them may be very productive and the other is just being lazy. Maybe one of them just sold their business or had some significant milestone of success and they’re taking their success lap. They’re enjoying the time there and it’s part of it or, you know, whatever they may be doing. The other person, you know, they may be unemployed and, you know, avoiding anything and running up their credit card laying on the beach you know and so you can’t tell there’s no activity that is specifically lazy or leisure and the difference is and i think everybody you should schedule your leisure everything should be done in your life on purpose And if you want to take an afternoon, a night, a weekend, and do absolutely nothing, zero, and recharge and clear out your mind, you just need to put it on the calendar. You control these things. But it’s much better to do that than have them control you. And you’ve got to know where you’re going. Progress is not universal. You could go out to the highway and see somebody driving by at 80 miles an hour, and you think, wow, they’re making good progress. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good time, good time.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and in reality, they may be going the wrong direction. They’re getting farther away from their goal all the time. And you really don’t know what it is until you do it. And I consult, as you know, with a lot of Fortune 500 executives and billionaire families. Wow. Without exception, they take control of these things. And when you look at their calendar for events and things, there are huge blocks of time that are anything from family reunions to vacations to fourth grade girls softball to whatever it may be. And, you know, that matters. And you’ve got to get those things on the calendar. If you don’t, they get away from you. And, you know, as you know, for years, Crystal and I have spent an hour together every morning, seven days a week. We sit and drink coffee and talk about our day and talk about what’s important and just our quiet time together. And people say, well, how do you find time for that? The way you find time for it is you find time for it. You put it on the calendar. It’s right there.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you do it early, don’t you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah. And thankfully, now that I’m at home, not quite as early as it was. So Ms. Crystal’s enjoying this a little better.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so tell me, when you were in the office, how early did you get up so you and Crystal could have your coffee time, quiet time together?
SPEAKER 05 :
I’d get up at 4 and she would join me at 6.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my goodness. And you’d work the whole day?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Angie, work is in quotes. I love what I do all day, every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, if you get tentacled about it, me sitting here talking to you is work, but it’s something I enjoy every week.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I’m laughing because on a day when I don’t have anything like scheduled, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a lot of times I mean, our interviews are scheduled fairly late. Like for you, it’s like lunchtime. And in my time zone, it’s my first interview of the day. And that is my time. 10 a.m. is often when I, you know, get my time. And so what noon your time, right? Or is it 11 your time?
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s 11. I’m an hour ahead of you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Okay, so almost lunchtime for you, and that’s the beginning of my day. You’ve been going sometimes for like five hours or six hours when I start my day. Now, I do like to stay up fairly late. That is something that I’ve always kind of liked doing, but I’m not an early riser, which is interesting. gym because I did a morning show where I had to get up at 2.45 in the morning for, I’d say, around 20 years or so, not being a morning person. So maybe this is my reward to myself that now I sleep in. But I can’t even imagine voluntarily getting up at 4 a.m. so I’d have time to exercise and see my spouse. And I salute you for that because you’re making the time. You’re scheduling it in and you’re getting up really early or not as early now to do that. So I really respect that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I’ve had people tell me, I wish I had more hours in the day. And I said, I’ll tell you where they are. They’re right there before you get out of bed is where they are. And I believe you should get your sleep in and do that. I get that. But I don’t have an alarm that goes off. What? i just wake up i mean i just wake up i i do not have i mean it is set if i don’t if i don’t otherwise get up the alarm will go off at 4 30 but angie i it’s been years since the alarm’s gone off oh my goodness i just wake up i just wake up and i’m ready but you know So it’s a matter of do you enjoy what you do? Are you excited about it? And, you know, to me, it’s like being on vacation and we’re all going to go do something fun in the morning. Man, I’m up. I’m ready to go.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my gosh. I love that about you. I looked at my plaque before I call you. It says today only happens once. Make it amazing. And I’m like, oh, that’s something Jim would say. Jim Stovall dot com. Thank you, friends. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to the good news with Angie Austin on AM 670 KLTT.
