- First of all, who is that in your arms?
- This is Henry. Henry, you gotta say hi.
Let's say hi to Drew.
- [Drew] And how old is Henry?
- Henry is almost 12 years old.
- Henry is so cute.
So my dog Douglas here, he's almost 12.
- Okay. - And then my dog Lucy, here,
is gonna be seven.
And so when Douglas had Lucy walk into his life,
it was like Claudia Schiffer walking into his life.
- All right, yeah. - So he's a happy guy.
And this is Jeremy, who is a girl.
But she's a bearded dragon. Anyway.
- It's not always easy to tell with those guys.
But I love that you're a reptile fan.
The reptiles are what kind of initially
got my heart with animals at a very young age.
And I just love working with them, and I love them.
- Well, when I saw the cover of your book,
that cover is so eye-catching.
It is so bold.
I mean, it is a bam, it is sexy.
It's like, rrrl.
- Oh, thank you. (laughing)
You're making me blush over here.
- Will you please tell us about the book.
- It's me in my early adulthood life,
I guess, where I am a wildlife enthusiast,
and I am so keen to just get out
into the wild and into the natural habitats
where my favorite species are native to, around the world.
And that's places like Australia and Africa
and Southeast Asia, Central America.
And basically it's an evolution
of that kind of work and travel
into becoming a veterinarian and being a vet
and getting to do real veterinary work
and real conservation work
and work with amazing conservationists and vets
and wildlife rescues around the world
and getting to share my story and the crazy travels.
And there's happy moments and exciting moments
and scary moments and sad moments
and funny moments and everything in between.
- When you were shooting the cover of your book,
did you bring in inspiration pictures?
Was there a nice Calvin Klein shot?
Like, you are giving it in this picture.
It is like "World Wild Vet" is like, it's so striking.
- Yeah, no, I love that picture.
And yeah, I just, I went online and I Googled
just men holding giant lizards on their shoulders.
And I found so many great pictures.
No, no, I'm kidding.
It just, it just happened.
And the photographer's awesome.
I loved working with him.
And we had a lot of great shots from that day.
And that lizard is,
that was a very sweet Asian water monitor lizard,
and she was just cooperative.
And I just, I don't know.
I thought it'd be a fun idea, honestly.
And I just, we were just kind of playing with it,
and it turned out we got some good shots.
- My daughter, Olive, her nickname is ACE Ventura,
because she has that gift. - Oh my gosh.
- She has the gift with animals.
And she's obsessed with them,
and she wants to be a veterinarian.
Do you have any advice for her?
- I think my biggest advice would be just as much for you,
and that's just to cultivate that.
Get her books and shows and help her learn
and take her to the zoo, good zoos and good trips,
and things like that, to get her exposed
and just really feed that interest of hers.
- Dr. Evan Antin, we have a question for you.
Would it be okay?
Quianna, you have question for the wonderful Dr. Evan Antin.
- Yes. Hi there.
- Hi, how you doing, Quianna?
- I'm good. This is Cupcake here.
And as you can see, she's super tiny,
only about five pounds.
And every time she goes for her checkup,
she's that same weight.
But she eats so much. She's always hungry. Why is that?
- That's a common thing in dogs.
And Henry, to be honest, is the same way.
I've got a little dog too. - I love him.
- And this guy will eat until I stop feeding him.
So I have to be really careful with that.
And it really, our metabolism works very similar
to that of dogs, in that it all comes down to
how many calories are coming in and how many calories
are being burned at the end of the day.
And for dogs, if they're not as active
and they're kind of couch potatoes,
like Henry is very guilty of,
and I'm guilty of basically facilitating that,
it's easy for them to gain weight.
And many dogs have high appetites.
And then neutering and spaying dogs,
which I highly encourage for most dogs,
is something that can actually slow down the metabolism
and it can increase the appetite.
Both things are kind of a recipe for gaining weight.
And so when you know all those things,
the key to it is just make sure you're feeding
the appropriate amount for your pet,
and try to get them activity and exercise
if they're healthy enough to do so.
- Well, I love what you do.
I've followed you for a long time.
And I think whether it's you on the cover of your book,
the person that you are that shines through,
you help keep humans interested
in what's the responsible thing to do
with animals and our planets.
And I really thank you for everything that you do.
- Oh, that means so much.
If that's your takeaway from this book, that's everything.
That makes me so happy to hear.
And that's exactly what I would love
for readers to get from it.
So those words mean a lot, Drew.
Thank you very much.
(upbeat music)