Animal Planet star Dr. Evan Antin talks his new show and tips for summer pet safety

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Animal Planet star Dr. Evan Antin talks his new show, tips for pet safety

The 'Evan Goes Wild' host and veterinarian on pet adoption and how to make sure your pet stays healthy.

NEW YORK – Summer is the time to enjoy being outside with your pet, but just because you love frolicking the park doesn't mean you should put your guard down completely.

Both your health and your pet's health should always be a top priority, and veterinarian Dr. Evan Antin, star of the Animal Planet show "Evan Goes Wild," spoke to Fox News about a number of ways to keep your pet away from the vet.

First things first, pet owners need to wash their pet's bowls and toys because those items can be covered with dangerous bacteria.

Dr. Antin recommends cleaning them with a diluted bleach solution containing Clorox Regular Bleach₂ and Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach and then rinsing with water to prevent bacteria spreading in the household.

Another thing he advocates for is vaccination to prevent your pet from catching deadly viruses like canine parvo. Dr. Antin is also aware of some pet health trends gaining popularity and isn't a fan of some of those either.

"There's a lot of people that are really keen on raw diets and not many vets are going to recommend that," he explained. He said that when people follow a homecooked diet, owners aren't providing "adequate micronutrients" for their animals. With raw diets, owners also could be passing along "bacterial pathogens" that put the pet and the family at risk of contracting E.coli or salmonella.

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Besides promoting good pet health, Dr. Antin is hard at work on this new Animal Planet show, "Evan Goes Wild," which just wrapped its freshman season. The vet hopes to get picked up again because he loves working and learning about exotic animals.

One species he's particularly interested in highlighting are sharks because they "get a bad rap."

And he'd love to do a crossover episode with the Irwin family down in Australia. Dr. Antin idolized the late conservationist Steve Irwin while growing up and got the idea of one day creating his own show because of Irwin's work in front of the camera.

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When Dr. Antin isn't traveling, he's back in Southern California working at Conejo Valley Veterinary Hospital seeing patients of all shapes and sizes.