Wag Out Loud
by Krista Karpowich
<p>The Wag Out Loud pawdcast started as a passion project that would help all of us to be the BEST advocates for our dogs’ health and wellness. After many amazing guests, intriguing topics and incredible feedback, the WOL pawdcast is hitting a nerve with dog lovers all over the world. </p> <p>Why is it that over 50% of our dogs are getting cancer? I believe it is because of the extreme toxic load that are dogs are taking on from not only their poor diets, but from their environment as well. We can do so much better for our dogs, but first we need to be educated on how to make the right choices for our dogs, to help them lead longer and healthier lives.</p> <p>Our short and succinct episodes (about 30 mins each) feature experts in the fields of canine health, nutrition, and wellness as well as recommendations about products and services that I've used, know, like and trust and have found to enhance the lives of dogs. </p> <p>My name is Krista and I am the host of the WOL pawdcast. After receiving my certification in canine nutrition and noticing that most dogs are getting sicker and living shorter lives, I have become obsessed with bringing experts and dog enthusiasts together in committed community. Together we can learn about the most updated science, treatments, protocols and products that will benefit both the mental and physical health of our pups. I continue to learn something every single day.</p> <p>This show mostly features topics and opinions from those in the holistic and integrative veterinary health industry. We address things like dental health, over vaccination, nutrition, benefits of feeding raw, gut health and the immune system, common canine diseases, aging issues, behavioral issues, cognition and so much more. </p> <p>You love your dog, right? And you want to provide them with the best life possible. Let’s learn together. No matter where you live, your financial status, how many dogs you have, if they are a pure breed or mixed, we have something for every dog parent on the planet. Dogs are such amazing creatures and are a part of our families. As research continues, we are learning more and more about how they enhance our lives. It’s time to give back all of the unconditional love that our dogs show us. They are here to teach us so many things…we just need to know how to listen.</p> <p>Nothing and I mean nothing, in the dog industry is regulated. That includes food, treats, supplements or the manufacturing of dog products. It really is like the wild, wild west and we have to do our own research on products, ingredients and materials. We can’t be fooled by false marketing claims.</p> <p>This is the only podcast that focuses on practical, actionable tips and strategies to help your dog to thrive. Tune in for the latest research, science-based information, natural alternatives and inspiration for ensuring you are making well-informed decisions, when it comes to your dog’s health and happiness. </p> <p>Just think of Wag Out Loud as the ultimate resource for the dog lover who is on a quest to provide the best care for his/her canine companion(s). I am the guide that helps you to navigate the landscape of conflicting and confusing information in the ever-growing pet health space. </p> <p>Listen in to all of the Wag Out Loud pawdcast episodes and be sure to tell your dog-loving friends about the Show. Your dog will thank you!</p>
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December 6, 2023
Will Your Dog Benefit from Supplements? Critical Questions to Ask When Selecting Products
Hello This is Krista with Episode #189, the final episode of the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. And I just want to thank you for tuning in over the years and for wanting to be the best advocate for your dog's health and wellness. I have learned so much from all of my expert guests over the last five years and I hope that you have too many of you know that for the past year I've been working alongside Dr. Judy Morgan, as the Education and Development Team Lead for her Naturally Healthy Pets team. And Dr. Judy is America's best known natural pet advocate, and holistic veterinarian for over 38 years, and I help produce her podcast and manage her events and also manage her speaking engagements. Dr. Judy's experience includes holistic veterinarian, acupuncturist, chiropractor, food therapist, author and speaker. So if you don't currently follow her, you should! Follow Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets and continue your journey to learning more about how to keep your dog healthy and happy, naturally. And in the meantime, my Wag Out Loud website will remain up. So you can always listen to any of the podcast episodes. Check out my most trusted brands, most of them with discount codes. And check out the great information on the resources page. Again, thanks everybody for listening to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. And I hope that you enjoy this final episode. Take care dog lovers! Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode. Well, hello dog lovers and welcome to yet another Wag Out Loud episode. And this is actually going to be the last and final episode, where we have a chance to learn something new when it comes to Canine health. And I'm so excited for today's guest. We have Bill Booko ut here. And he's going to be covering the topic of will your dog benefit from supplements and the critical questions to ask when selecting products. Bill, thank you so much for being with us today. Krista, Thank you very much for the opportunity. I've been looking forward to this since we scheduled it. I’m sad that this is last podcast but I'm honored to be the final episode. So I really appreciate it. This is so fitting. Bill, I'm going to ask you to introduce yourself and share why did you start the NASC, the National Animal Supplement Council? THE START OF THE NASC Kind of an interesting story. I'll make it brief. I'm a business executive. So I was COO for a $500 million dollar medical device and drug company but I was raised in Wyoming and I had dogs my whole life. So I've been an animal lover. I had two black labs, Lancelot and Cinder and they both had health issues. Cinder had hip dysplasia. Lancelot had cancer. So in the mid 1990s, I had them both successfully treated, I made a career change. I got out of human medicine and I took a slot as CEO for the third largest specialty animal referral center in the US. When cancer came back the second time around on my own dog, Lancelot. He was an 11 and a half year old Labrador Retriever. And he was given a very poor prognosis. So I'm connected with all these high powered board certified oncologists. And you know, he's given three months with chemotherapy. And I'm just not going to do that on an 11 and a half year old dog, so I'm looking for help. So I find a veterinarian, formulated a product and changed his diet completely. And he lived two and a half years good quality of life, which wasn't long enough. But out of that experience, I decided, well, I'm going to start my own company selling supplements for animals. Well, I didn't realize that the regulatory environment for animal supplements was different than it is for human dietary supplements. I made a bad assumption. And in 2001, the industry was threatened with products being removed from the marketplace. So we started NASC with 18 companies with the intention of engaging the regulatory officials, meaning the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary medicine as well as state regulators to try to define, develop and implement a responsible path forward that would allow these beneficial products to remain on the market, provided companies act responsibly. So that's the foundation and the driving force behind founding NASC. Well, and we appreciate that. Because, you know, I have to let my listeners know, I don't know it all. I'm just a dog, mom. And I thought that the supplement industry, especially for animals is unregulated. And the wild wild west? And I am so glad to know that there is an organization looking out for our pets. And I was just astounded, yet happy to hear what your members of the NASC have to go through to get that accreditation. So why don't we start there with how did you come up with having supplement companies get the seal of approval? What do they have to do? WHAT DOES NASC MEMBERSHIP ENTAIL? It's really a two step process. First, you just can't pay your money and join NASC, you have to qualify for membership. So whether you go through the audit process or not, there's a code of conduct document that every single company and then we have 300 members now, 300 brands, every single company that joins NASC, has to have a direct interview, either with myself or Ryan Cargo, our Chief Operating Officer, to be sure that the company is willing to commit to our quality standards. they sign a written document, and they have to qualify for membership. To use the NASC seal, that's about a 120 day process. a lot of companies want to join NASC and use the seal right away. Well, if we just handed out the seal, the quality seal when companies you know join and you write us a check and it would have no meaning or value. So with the NASC audit program, companies have to pass a quality audit, similar to an FDA audit, that they demonstrate their labels are in compliance, their claims are in compliance with our guidelines. They have a written quality manual that ensures quality processes, whether they have products contract manufactured for them by someone else, or they they have those processes themselves. They enter products to our adverse event reporting database, which is the most advanced system of post market surveillance in the world, for these types of products, much more advanced than even the human dietary supplement industry. So those companies have to meet our requirements to be a member, but we verify those through an actual audit process. And once a company does that, then they can use the NASC seal, that’s good for two years. But again, you can't just join and use the seal. If there wasn't a pretty high hurdle to clear, then that seal would have no value. And, you know, a lot of people ask me why we've been successful at NASC. And, you know, I say, one word credibility, we walk our talk. And I don't mean to say that our members are perfect. Anybody can make a mistake. But, you know, we do have specific standards that we require members to follow. Well, and the in depth ingredient search and report that is involved, that alone is worth its weight in gold. Yeah, we've expanded our programs as this is our 22nd year. And we're the largest trade association in the world representing companies that sell products for dogs, cats and horses, you know, similar to human dietary supplements, but our programs have expanded where we now have quality, quality and qualification programs for raw materials, contract manufacturers, testing laboratories, because it seems intuitive, but people you know, kind of forget, one of the things they you know, you see a product on the shelf and quality is assumed and it shouldn't be. So I always say Trust, but verify. And we'll talk more about that in this podcast, I'm sure. If you don't start with quality raw materials, combined and manufactured with quality, repeatable processes, you're not going to have quality products at the end of that production cycle. So we cover all the way from raw material supplier qualification through our preferred supplier program, contract manufacturing companies all the way through finished products. we do independent product testing also, we'll go out as an organization couple times a year, and we'll buy products from the marketplace. And we'll test to make sure that companies meet label claim. If they don't, then we require written corrective action and investigation, if they’re outside of allowable limits or analytical laboratory variation. And what if a company changes their formulation in any way? Do they have to start over again? CHANGE IN FORMULATION Yeah, good question. Products are entered in our database. And every ingredient in the product is entered in and that product is finalized and locked, the company has to sign it off and lock the product. So that product in our database cannot be changed. Now, if a formulation does change, they can enter a new product, or we won’t modify that product because that would compromise the integrity and the traceability of the products that were manufactured previous to the formulation change. But that can be updated by like a red one SKU in our database. So every individual product and individual formulation can be tracked by lot number, and that really protects the company, you know, if they ever did have a problem, or an issue that was unforeseen? You know, we could recognize that act upon that quickly, you know, if needed, and again, in the interest of ensuring that we have quality products in the marketplace. And do you guys put any emphasis on companies that have done clinical trials or studies? STUDIES AND TRIALS Certainly, clinical trials and studies are important. And we encourage people to contact a company look for research? A couple issues with research. So Krista, let me give you a direct short answer to your question. We don't evaluate the efficacy of products, right? There would be legal liability associated with that. And if we did, if we evaluated safety and efficacy, then we'd be the FDA. And that's what the Food and Drug Administration does. So we don't evaluate whether or not the product works, or does the company have clinical research? However, in commenting on clinical research, a lot of people especially veterinarians say, You know what, I'm not going to buy a product until I see research. There's a couple of issues with research, I think the right question is, why isn't there more research for natural products? Two answers to that, number one, natural substances cannot be protected via intellectual property or patents. So if a company introduces, you know, conducts research, and I'll give you an example, we just conducted as an organization, a safety study for CCD, three different types of CBD in dogs, the cost of that study was $475,000, for just safety. So there's no way to recoup the investment, because you can't patent protect the formulations in most cases. So some other company can go out, copy of formulation, sell it cheaper, and no way for the company to recoup the investment. That's answer number one, or part one of the answer. Part Two, the answer is, if you have a product that shows that the product would be beneficial for a chronic disease process, companies are limited on the claims that they can make if they don't go through the drug approval process with FDA. And that's a very expensive and lengthy process, meaning millions of dollars and years, at least five years to get through the new animal drug approval process. So that's why drug companies have formulations or substances that they can protect with patents, and recoup the very costly investment that it takes to go through the new animal drug approval process. So that's kind of a long winded answer to a short question, which is, how do we view research? And do we encourage research? The answer is yes, we encourage research. But there are limitations in this particular area, just because the cost to reach it. That all makes sense. Thank you for breaking that down. Appreciate it. Well, before we go on our break, I guess I wanted to ask, since it's called the National Animal Supplement Council, are you only taking companies that are manufacturing here in the US? ONLY US COMPANIES? Yeah, the answer is the answer is no. When we started NASC, that's where we started because that's where the issue was burning. The hottest and brightest was products were being limited, in fact being removed from the marketplace in the United States. So we started as in the National Animal Supplement Council, but we really have evolved into you know, we're more of a global organization, we participated in the veterinary natural health products program and helped define the path forward in Canada. And we're recognized in in some other countries, countries internationally with the NASC seal and our quality program. So we've become more globally focused over time. But we started out focused in the US. got it. Okay. Well, we are going to take a quick break, but when we come back, Bill is going to unpack his motto trust but verify, and how we can know that we're getting a good product when we are looking for products for our dogs. So everybody sit tight, and we'll be right back. SPONSOR AD Thanks to Dog Love essential oils for sponsoring this episode. They say it comes in many forms. And in this case, love comes in a bottle. Our canine companions are more than just pets. They're cherished family members. So whether you have a sprightly pup, a wise old sage or a beloved friend of any age, Dog Love Oils help to enhance your pups wellbeing, and happiness. Are you tired of using chemical laden products on your precious pup? Well, Dog Love Oils has you covered. Whether it's soothing your dogs hotspots, protecting them from pesky fleas and ticks, aiding digestion, relieving sore joints, or simply promoting overall wellness, Dog Love Oils has crafted top quality natural solutions for you. What makes these elixirs stand out? Well, it's all about quality and Dog Love Oils uses only the finest pure therapeutic grade essential oils, ensuring safety and effectiveness for both dogs and their human companions. And rest assured that all Dog Love Oils are blended with natural ingredients and expertly diluted and tested to be dog safe. Show your love by going to https://www.dogloveoils.com/ today and explore their wide range of products designed to boost your best friend's well being. And here's a special treat during the entire month of December, enjoy a generous 15% off every order of $25 or more by using the code WAGOUTLOUD . Dog Love Oils… love in a bottle. And we are back and I'm having a fascinating conversation with Bill Bookout from the National Animal Supplement Council. And Bill you mentioned in the first half that your motto is trust but verify. Can you unpack that a little bit? TRUST, BUT VERIFY Yes, I think, again, as we talked about in, you know, before the break, people see a product on the shelf and quality is assumed and I don't think it should be. trust but verify. You know, people should not be afraid to pick up the phone and call the company and ask some questions. Ask how long has the company been in business? Ask who formulated the product? And what's their background? You know, do they have expertise in these areas? Who can I call if I have a question? You know, are they credible? You know, Can I can I get help? There's a couple red flags that I always tell people to look for. And you can take these to the bank. Companies that make claims that sound too good to be true, probably are. And cheap products are cheap for a reason. So if you see two different products, and they look the same formulation wise and one of them cost significantly less than the other stop and ask yourself why. quality costs money. Now, why is that important? Because this is a consumable product. And there are no magic bullets out there. Right? So even if you have a supplement that you hope that your dog or cat will benefit from. It's not a magic bullet. Right. It's a component of a comprehensive health and wellness program. But the important point for supplements are, quality means consistency. And if your dog or cat is going to respond positively to that product. It needs to be produced consistently. So you have the same product this week, next week, next month, next year, so that you maximize the probability that you're going to get a positive response for the animal And that centers around quality and process control. So that's why trust but verify quality is always important. Now, we all lead busy lives, right? And I will also suggest that people, you know, access to information on the internet, we live in the information age, right? We get information from all kinds of different places. And it's easy to get right. So be careful what you read, be careful who you believe, trust but verify. And, you know, we hope that companies or consumers, pet owners will look for NASC audited member products, because again, as I mentioned earlier, that doesn't mean they're perfect, but it does mean somebody's been there and checked them out. Right. So I think you want to maximize the probability that your dog or cat who is really your extended family member is going to benefit from the products and you want to buy a quality product, because if they're going to respond, it really centers around quality and consistency. I'm glad you mentioned that it all does make a lot of sense that cheaper does not mean better. And that we do have to ask questions and not be afraid to dig a little deeper into the companies and the ingredients and the sourcing and where do they manufacture? How do they manufacture? So I know when we originally met, which was a long time ago, you said that there was an instance when you had to cancel a member? Can you share what happened there? MEMBERS NOT BEING COMPLIANT We did. Yeah, without mentioning any names. We had a longtime audited member company, that we you know, we pick up products and we test for label claims. And we had a company come in at 78% of label claim for one of the ingredients in their product. Well, when that happens, that's you know, there's obviously an issue. So we require written investigation and corrective action so that the company can determine what made that happen. Well, we sent a note to the company and said, Hey, we bought this product, here's where we bought it from, here's the test results. We tested this particular laboratory, we're completely transparent in that. And we said you're 78% of label claim, you need to find out why this happened and respond to us on what your findings are and what you're going to do. What are you going to do so this doesn't happen again. And the company responded back to us and said, We're not going to do that. We think you're getting too deep in our business, and we're not going to respond to you. We canceled their membership that day. Good for you. So, I mean, if we don't walk our talk, then again, as I mentioned earlier, if you ask me, What's the one single word that best describes the success of NASC credibility, right? If we don't have credibility with the regulatory agencies, and ultimately with the consumers in the marketplace, retailers, consumers, then we don't have a good foundation to stand on. So quality is very important to us. That's what happened. And we're very serious about what we do. Well, I appreciate that, that shows integrity and transparency. And I mean, you are regulating, which is what we need. And speaking of which, you should be very proud of 300 members. But when we look at the entire landscape of animal supplements, there are I can't even imagine hundreds of 1000s of brands, why aren't more wanting to be a part of the NASC? So by consumer spending, we estimate that we represent about 80 to 85% of the industry. The industry, rightly or wrongly, is a fairly low barriers to entry industry. Meaning that, you know, Krista and Bill can decide they want to start an animal supplement company, and if we can get it up off the ground, then we can certainly do that. But we estimate that we represent about 80 and 85% of the industry by consumer spending or products that consumers purchase. So we represent the majority of the industry. But that's why I say Trust, but verify, you know, look at the company, see how long they've been in business, check out their background, don't hesitate to do a little due diligence before making the selection. Now, if you see a company with the NASC quality seal again, that means they're not only a member agree to abide by our guidelines in terms of the Code of Conduct, we bought it at them and we verified that. So we hope the consumer because we all lead busy lives, you know, would look for the NASC quality seal and and give that weight. Our ultimate goal is we want to NASC quality seal to be in the top three factors of why someone selects a product that they would use for their furry family member. And do you ever seek out members? Or do they come to you? HOW NASC FINDS MEMBERS most of the time members come to us. At some of the major trade shows like Global Pet Expo or Super Zoo, there's a couple of major veterinary shows, you know, we attend those shows, we usually have a booth and, you know, I'll cruise around if I if I see a company, or what its really turned into Krista is more of a self policing industry. So when you have the majority of the industry, following requirements and quality standards, if somebody is outside of those boundaries, and you know, really, you know, making claims they shouldn't make, for example, they're out there purveying products, and they say they're going to cure everything from parvo to cancer. A lot of times people don't realize they're making a mistake. I didn't when I first got in the business. So I'll call companies up if they're brought to my attention, or if I see them somewhere. And I'll try to help them. we operate with with the philosophy here that a rising tide floats all boats. So, you know, sometimes companies just don't know that they're making a mistake. And I'll try to give them the information because it doesn't do the industry any good for us to sit back and let a company make a mistake. Because bad news sells. And we all get painted with a broad brush wrongly a lot of times. But nevertheless, that's what happens. And so we do both, most of the times companies come to us, one of the buyers on the retail side. Now we've been around long enough and we have credibility, you know that the buyers will require companies to belong to NASC. Because again, they want to maximize, this is a consumable sale, they want to maximize the probability that a pet owner is going to return to their location, wherever that purchase location is, they're going to buy that product again, they're going to leverage that visit, they’ll buy other things because it increases trust with the retailer that recommends or offers a product for sale. And they'll tell their friends and create a new stream of business. So there's a lot of business benefits. And so we get a lot of a lot of companies through retail channels as well, because we you know, again, we help the retailers maximize, maximize their revenue which at the end of the day. You know, that's what that's what keeps them in business. Well, I have to say, in the almost five years that I've been doing this show, you know, I've learned how to ask the questions and what to look for. But I think a lot of these companies, unfortunately, they're playing on our emotions, because we're talking about, as you mentioned, extended family. These dogs are part of our family, and cats. So when we're buying these supplements, and we don't see a difference, in whatever we're trying to address, I know that I've had supplement graveyards, I've spent so much money, it seems like I'm throwing stuff at the wall, there has to be something that works for my dog. So for the NASC seal for you guys to do the steps and go above and beyond what research and homework I could do on a brand or product. I think that just speaks so highly of what you're doing. We try to make it easier, right? Because again, we all lead busy lives. So we try to make it easier. And again, I don't claim that all of our members are perfect. They're not. But we want people to have a higher degree of confidence that if they select an audited NASC member company’s product, that that company is a solid company and they're going to maximize the probability of success, which how does that translate? We really want our dogs and cats. We want the same things for our dogs and cats we want for ourselves. If you stop and think about that, we want to live a long, happy, healthy life to the maximum degree possible, right? Well, here's the irony. This might be a total rabbit hole. I do believe if we feed our pets, a species appropriate diet. And I am one and everybody knows that for fresh and or raw feeding versus a highly processed food with synthetic vitamins and minerals. They can't be getting the nutrition that they need. So therefore you do need to supplement and that's where I just I don't understand why many of us don't want to give the proper nutrition to our animals and give them less supplementation. What are your thoughts on that? WHY NOT BETTER NUTRITION FOR LESS SUPPLEMENTATION? Very insightful and you're dead on I mean, you hit the nail on the head. If people think about it this way, this thing that we call health and wellness, whether it's for ourselves or our animals, it's a three dimensional sphere. A spherical object, three dimensional, good diet, exercise, home environment, fresh water, routine veterinary care, and checkups, just like routine, you know, you know, physicals and checkups every year. That's right. Supplements are a component of that. But you're right. A lot of people don't know, your gastrointestinal tract is the largest immune supporting organ in your body, person or animal. And quality food quality diet, strong and healthy immune system, those are really you know, so probiotics can can play a role in that. So probiotics are the good bacteria, you know, that fight off the bad bacteria in the GI tract that helps metabolize nutrients and maintain strong and healthy immune system. But probiotics are subject to. The two enemies of probiotics are heat and moisture. And so you don't see probiotics in pet food because they're heated to kill off salmonella in a kill step. So probiotics is one example of a supplement that can be very beneficial for long term health and wellness. Now, you might not see an immediate effect from probiotics, like you would on maybe a joint product if your dog's limping from old age or something like that. But you really hit a very key point, good nutrition, clean water, exercise, loving home environment. Supplements as a component are really, really important. So it's three dimensional. Oh, thank you for clarifying that. That's, that's so powerful that we give them all around whole body wellness physically and mentally. Well, Bill, we are running out of time. But before we go, I want to ask you two things. First of all, what is the difference between a health versus a nutritional supplement? HEALTH VS NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS Very good question. So a health supplement would be for a non nutritional benefit. ingredients that would not provide nutrients that are required in a complete and balanced diet. What are some examples? Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM, tumeric, curcumin, coenzyme Q 10. lutein, there's no scientifically substantiated daily nutritional requirements for those ingredients yet, products with some of those can be targeted for specific health benefits, right? Joint Health, eye health, cardiovascular health, liver and kidney health, gastrointestinal health, immune health, things like that. It could be when times of stress, right? older, older animals just like older people, you know, they don't get around as well so great products or B category. Those would be on the health supplement side. nutritional supplements would provide nutrients as a component of a complete and balanced diet, maybe probiotics, vitamins, minerals, things that, you know, you may as you said earlier, dog food companies are required to provide nutritionally complete diets. But typically, the more you spend the better quality for pet food you're going to get. And if people are willing to you know, go for, you know, raw diet, frozen diet, home prepared diet, you know, look at that, but, you know, some nutritional supplements would be provide components of a complete and balanced diet. There's some up and coming products that are completers, right, you take a protein source, and then you have a supplement that would have the other nutrients that you add to your own protein source. That would make a complete balanced diet. So does that help clarify that? Thank you. That's That's great. Well, they'll as we are wrapping up, what would you like to leave us with today? Well, Bill, I really appreciate the opportunity Krista, I'm very sorry that this is your last episode, but again, I'm honored to be selected to contribute. I guess I'd leave you with my contact information. If people have a question and they hear this podcast don't hesitate to reach out to me because you can get a hold of me. You know, www.animalsupplements.org is our website. My email address is b.bookout@NASC.cc Shoot me a note, don't hesitate to pick up the phone, give me a call, check out our website and look for the NASC seal. And, you know, long, happy, healthy life to everybody on the podcast. I really appreciate you listening. Thank you, Bill. And I will have all of these links in the show notes. OFFER: And Bill is giving a great offer. He is offering up a free copy of the NASC Pocket Guide to dog and cat health. And there's a form on their website, and I have the link again, it's going to be in the show notes. All you have to do is click on it and you'll have access to that NASC Pocket Guide to dog and cat health. Bill, I can't thank you enough. And I'm so glad that you reached out to me those months and months ago and set me straight that there is regulation. And we need more of that in the entire industry, not just in the supplement division. So I want to thank you for starting this amazing organization, and for being on here today. And I want to thank all of the listeners for wanting to do better and to advocate for their dog's health. So Bill, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you very much. It's an honor. Thanks again to Dog Love Oils for sponsoring this episode and for their unwavering dedication to our beloved canine companions. Save 15% off any of their exceptional products during the month of December 2023. By using code WAGOUTLOUD on your purchase of $25 or more. Thanks for listening. You'll find some helpful links in the show notes and if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. And please, please share your feedback. Visit WagOutLoud.com for great product recommendations with discounts, amazing online events and fantastic resources. That's also where to visit our Bark About It page where you can suggest topics, guests or products. Be advised that this show offers health and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your dog's health, you should always consult a veterinarian or a nutrition expert. Have a tail wagging day and we'll catch you next time. Don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE and please leave a review: Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify I Stitcher I iHeartRADIO The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. The host as well as guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and Wag Out Loud LLC neither endorses or opposes any particular views discussed here.
November 15, 2023
Homeopathy for Dogs: The Things You’ve Probably Never Heard Before
Hello there this is Krista with Episode #188 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. Are you a smoker? Well consider this, all pets are at risk of developing breathing problems, as well as eye and skin irritations when they're exposed to smoke and smoke residue. Here's some alarming facts: when burned cigarettes release over 7000 chemicals. dogs that live in a smoking environment are two times more likely to develop lung or nasal cancers and inhaled tobacco smoke particles. They stay trapped in the noses of long nosed dog breeds, like greyhounds or Borzois or Doberman Pinchers, so they have a double risk of nose cancer. and the short and medium-nosed breeds like pugs, Bulldogs beagles, Brittany Spaniels, well, they have a higher risk of lung cancer, because their noses are much shorter, and more chemicals go directly into their lungs. As we all know, cancer can cut years from your dog's life. So maybe consider quitting smoking. Our dogs do so much for us. Do this for yourself and for them. Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode. Welcome dog lovers to the podcast where we can all learn something new when it comes to caring for our dog's health and wellness. And joining me today is Susie Cyrenne, and she is an expert on homeopathy for dogs, and she's going to be sharing with us the things you've probably never heard before when it comes to homeopathy. So Suzie, I have been looking forward to this interview for quite some time. And I just want to ask you to first introduce yourself and share with us. How did you get into homeopathy for pets? Oh, that's great. Thank you, Krista for having me. I'm honored. And yes, it's been a while it's been almost a year. So yeah, so my name is Suzie. I've been having this e commerce brand called Zumalka for now 10 years. So we sell homeopathy, homeopathy and natural supplements for pets, cats and dogs. And how I got into this, this business is quite the story. So I started I think dating my husband about 13 years ago. And when we did that, he told me his mom practiced homeopathy, I had no clue what that meant. And so I actually had been on prescription drugs for many years because I had skin issues, and I couldn't find anything to fix them. So I was just really desperate to find a solution. I wanted to try anything, anything new that I could find. And that's when I tried homeopathy for the first time. I tried it for myself. And I got excellent results. I wanted clear skin for my wedding. And I did that and it my step mom made it happen. So So for me, it was it meant a lot because it's not just about finding a natural product, but it's all you know, it's our self esteem, it can mean a lot of things. So I yeah, I was very happy to have found resolution, but not only that, a natural way too. So I follow this protocol for a few months and then cleared up my skin. And I just really realized at that time. Okay, well, first, what's homeopathy learn it really the nice way. And it works. That's what I realized. So. And this question, this question came up, why weren’t there alternative and natural options like this for pets? At the time, if you go back almost like 15 years ago, it's honestly it wasn't something that was very common. So yeah, so eventually, this led to a new and unique line of natural remedies for pets or recipes, that we pretty much serve mostly the US, though we do a little bit of here and there in the world. But that yeah, so that's how Zumalka came to life. Wow, so you are living proof on homeopathy. And first, I guess before we dig in, what is homeopathy? Can you define that for us? WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY? Absolutely. Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine. And it was actually born in the 19th century. So if you don't remember your history too much, that's at the time when they practiced medicine, and it was very unregulated, very dangerous. So purging blood, blistering were standard practices, and they actually died from the treatments they received most of the time. So it's been a while back now. And at that exact time, there was this German physician whose name was Samuel Hahnemann. Hahnemann, I never know how to pronounce that name is German. But you were very concerned about the medicine being practiced at that time. And so that's when he started doing his own research. And I guess I'm giving a little bit of background on homeopathy as well. Yeah, yeah, it helps. Because homeopathy, I find it's very, it's hard to grasp as a concept when you first hear about it. So hearing the story, I feel helps. So, so yeah, this so this German physician, he actually started doing his own research. And he found a bark called the cinchona bark that was used at the time for malaria. So he tried the bark, even though he didn't have malaria on himself. And after he tried it, he felt sick, like he had malaria. And when he stopped using it, he felt better. So that's when he realized that if something makes a healthy person sick, maybe it can also help it can make a sick person better. So it kind of, it's the other way around, it cancels out. So that's when the principle of homeopathy first came to life. And you'll hear that maybe when you hear homeopathy, you'll heard of a principle call, like cures like. So that means that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person or pet is the same thing is capable of healing those same symptoms in a diseased person or pet. So he tried this idea with many other things, got the same results, and that's how homeopathy was born. So that's what it is. It's really this alternative type of medicine that’s made with all kinds of natural products that you can find in nature. And it's highly diluted as well. And, yeah, water has a lot of vibration in it. And it can, honestly, we could go on like this for a long time. But it's really a great type of alternative medicine. Perfect. Well, thank you for that background. I think that helps us. And I'm really excited, because I don't know the answers that you're going to give us. So why don't we start with the facts that you're going to share? And most likely, most of us won't know all of these facts about homeopathy and how they can benefit our dogs. FUN FACTS ABOUT HOMEOPATHY Yeah, absolutely. So it's actually very, like I said, it's about 200 years old homeopathy. But a lot of things we don't know is that it's actually even nowadays widely used. In other countries like India, I think that's probably the number one country, it's used in England, and other European countries, a lot. England, France, countries like that. And even though here in North America, we don't use it a lot. It's not very well known. If we look. And if we look into the statistics from the World Health Organization, they actually, after doing a lot of surveys, and they actually came up with this is that homeopathy is the fastest growing, and second most widely used system of medicine in the world. So yeah, that's crazy. I think that's just amazing. Because we're so in here, we're in our little closed system of, we use a lot of conventional medicine, which has all of its benefits, but we can't I didn't grasp the idea that it was such. First, it's something that exists, and it's really widely used. More than 200 million people actually use homeopathy worldwide. So that's a lot. That's an awesome fact. I did not know that. Yeah, and what else? HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITALS? Um, well, last time, I think we spoke about hospitals, I think, yeah, let's talk about that. So in the late 1800s, again, when homeopathy was quite new, but it really made a difference fast. And I was talking about Europe, India, they still use it today. But we most people don't know is that there were several homeopathic hospitals in the US, in Canada in those days. So several cities in the United States had homeopathic hospitals and the number of homeopathic practitioners. I think at that time, were about like, we would count them in 1000s. So there were actually a lot. And so you had a homeopathic practitioner, they had actually established medical schools, journals. So They were actually dedicated to the practice of advancement of homeopathy. So that's quite surprising, because that's not all we see today. And here's what happened, the popularity of homeopathy in North America started to decline when the conventional institutions came in with all the pharmaceuticals and all all kinds of things like that. So, Yeah, I think unfortunately, for us, especially now, in our society, we want everything now. Yeah. And that's where the pharmaceuticals even though they're probably in most cases, not addressing the root cause of our issues. They're just a band aid. But we, you know, we think, Oh, it's working, because I can see results immediately. Yeah, versus going down the path of homeopathy, which is so holistic and natural. It's not an overnight, and you're not going to see. So do you want to talk about that? You know, it? It. Goodness comes to those who wait? CAN’T RUSH HOMEOPATHY Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are a lot of benefits to using homeopathy and just other other natural alternatives. And yes, I would say most of the time, it will take more time to see results. But sometimes it can be actually very surprising, we can actually get a lot of benefits. But to the ones who are ready to wait, when we think about it, it's it's very safe. I mean, it's non toxic. It's all natural, you, you can't go wrong when you use natural remedies, or homeopathy. And like you said, it aims to treat the whole animal it actually aims to treat the root cause not just the symptoms, which most prescription drugs today will do. It doesn't. Doctors are usually not just in conventional medicine, there may be not trained to look at the root cause of issues, they just go by different systems in the body, which is not a bad thing. But yeah, if you really want to get rid of the problem once and for all, then usually that's a great way to see it. And homeopathy does just that. So usually, when we take a problem case, we don't try to just take care of the symptoms. Our question is, how can we make sure this doesn't come back later on? So that's one great thing. And it’s side effect free. It's very, there are barely no side effects. And if there are, it's sometimes, the only reason is maybe you're just not taking the right product that you shouldn’t be taking. But I do not, it's pretty easy to to give and take, but is it so easy to figure out which to take because let's say my dog has allergies, you know, that's a big box, you don't know where they're getting it from? Why were on the body? Can you see? Or are they itching? So how do you know which homeopathic remedies to actually say, I think this is what we should try on your dog. WHAT FORMULATION IS BEST FOR MY DOG? I think that's probably maybe the most difficult thing to get yourself into and find your, your, your route to which remedy you should be using, especially when you're new to homeopathy because first of all, the ingredients are usually in Latin, who understands Latin and we don't you so you do need a little bit of a base. But I mean, it's easy to find that if you're just willing to go to your your library, buy a book on just homeopathy basics, though, it'll be like a little dictionary of symptom issues and which remedies can be good. It's so what I love about homeopathy, it's just, it's very up. It pinpoints the very smallest detail of your symptoms. If for example, your your dog has joint issues. Well it'll ask like Is he better like during the day see worse in the morning, like you'll have different remedies. for very specific symptoms that your pet will have. So that's great. But other than that, the practitioners are there, you can always go to an expert, we’re here for that. You can go to your health food store, usually a lot of the time it'll be either a homeopath or a natural path that will be able to help you so they'll help you direct your way to the right products. But yes, it again, it's not as easy as 123 Sometimes you just need that little bit of knowledge. But once you get past that, it's just like it's a new world world that opens up to you. Wonderful. Well Suzie, this is a great spot where we are going to take a quick commercial break. So hold tight everybody and we'll be back with Suzie. Thanks so much to the team at System Saver for being this month's feature sponsor. Dr. Baker's canine System Saver is an outstanding all natural supplement that promotes healthy aging. Originally created by a veterinarian to help restore health and soundness to dogs suffering from chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions. This is one product that does so much. It's perfect for arthritis, hip dysplasia, and joint support, chronic dermatitis, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and geriatric support for successful aging and quality of life extension. Now with the start of allergy season, System Saver works wonders on canine allergies as well. Learn more by going to Caninesystemsaver.com To relieve your dog's discomfort naturally. And as a bonus, wag out loud listeners can take advantage of a 10% discount by using the code WOL10 At checkout. And welcome back to Suzie and our listeners, we are learning so much about homeopathy and how it can benefit our dogs. So Suzie, you were just talking about how to give the right homeopathic remedies in a formula for your dogs. And the nice thing about Zumalka that I love is that you've already created formulas for the, I guess, the cases that you see the most of you know, what are our dogs suffering from? And how can homeopathy help? How do you come up with those formulas? And what would you say? Are the top five issues that dogs have that homeopathy can come to the rescue? TOP 5 ISSUES THAT HOMEOPATHY CAN HELP TREAT Hmm, that's such a great question. So yeah, for exactly what you just pin pointed out. Previously, since homeopathy is, especially when you're new to it, you feel like you need that support. And somehow, so we're we just decided to create a line of products that kind of gets rid of that friction and that complicated journey of finding, like trying to find your product for your pets. So we just created formulations for one specific issue that includes all kinds of ingredients that can help address that issue. So the way it works is that, let's say your pet has, let's say I was talking about joint issues. Well, we took like the most common ingredients in homeopathy, put them in one bottle. And usually homeopathy, you just need that only one ingredient for it to make to be effective and to solve your pet’s issues. So like keeping that in mind, our goal is to make sure that in our mix, there's that that one remedy that's really for your pet, that will really solve the issue. And the what's beautiful with is that even if your your dog is taking the other ingredients in there that are maybe not necessarily 100% on point, it's not going to cause any side effects, the body will take in it really nicely. And also we have homeopaths on board. And what's what we love to do. And for us, it's so important to make sure that your pet gets the results. And that you feel supported that everyone like comes to us and asks us what would be good for my dog? Well, we make sure that every single recommendation that we give out, has been seen by a homeopath, we don't even charge for that. every single morning, or both girls come in, they filter out the cases and everything has to go through the homeopath before it goes to the actual customer. So just because we we want to make sure you're well served, you want to make sure you get those results and that you're supported because we understand that homeopathy, especially when you're new to it is maybe not as easy. Yeah. As we'd like to so so yeah, so that's what we do. We also have products come in spray spray form just because we feel it's easier. You can put in your pet’s mouth or something like that. But the easiest way to give it just one spray in your dog’s bowl, that's what I do with my dog and it works wonders. Yeah, so that's what we really love doing. That's how we help customers find their way through homeopathy. And I would say you were asking about the five maybe top illnesses that are issues that we help out with, I would say our number one that we deal several times a day, I don't even count them anymore i s cancer care. We really are in cancer care, I would say 50% of our our Pet Pet customers are have cancer, which is sad, but at least at the same time we feel like we can really support them and give them what they need to help increase their quality of life. Other than that, we have anything for oral oral issues so, Tartar accumulation, Gingivitis, loose teeth. So all of those issues are very common for most dogs, I would say. And if we're going to go into more senior age, then yes, joint issues, arthritis. That's something that comes up a lot. And other than that, allergies. You were talking about allergies before. That's a big one, especially like seasonal allergies. Yeah, I don't know how many that makes. But I would say those are our top. Yeah, that we see on a most frequently. Okay, well, that makes sense. And yes, it's unfortunate that over half of our dogs now we're getting cancer. So yeah, I'm glad that you have options for people that want to go a natural route. Yeah. Well, the proof is in the pudding. And we all love on the show to hear success stories. So do you have a few that come? Top of Mind? You know, somebody came to you with these issues with their dogs, and you were able to help them through homeopathy? HOMEOPATHY FOR ORAL ISSUES & CANCER? Yeah, sure. Um, I have a first one that comes to mind, we're talking about oral issues, which I think every dog owner will find this relatable. So our pets, they all accumulate tartar like the brown stuff on the teeth. That were we usually try to brush your dog's teeth, right. So sometimes it's not easy. Let's, let's say it. we do our best. But our cats don't usually really appreciate them, maybe, but mostly don't appreciate getting their teeth brushed. So we do this time. Not so long ago, this three year old dog Rottweiler, he was not fond of his parents actually sticking stuff in his mouth and trying to clean and brush his teeth. So they were actually really worried they would have to sedate him to have a dental cleaning. So it's not something you take lightly. It's not like us humans going to the get a cleaning, we have to put them under anesthesia. So it comes with consequences or possible side effects. So they were looking for a natural remedy. And yeah, they tried homeopathy on their dog. So first, they tried in the mouth, it didn't work hungry. So they tried in the bowl, like I said earlier. And what I found surprising from his story is that after only four treatments, though, that's the equivalent of like four days, there was an extremely noticeable difference in his teeth, so. Yeah, like black, teeth, almost black, brown has teeth filled with tartar, which is really not not common at three years old, that’s very young. So I don't know what's happening there. But like it started coming off just in pieces just like that. So in just a few days, so I always like seeing that because if it can at least not 100% completely avoid a dental cleaning, because eventually, we need to get that tarter removed at the vet. But if we can at least space out those vet visits, then great. I'm happy. So that's just one light little story. But like I was saying earlier, we deal with cancer, a lot. And so that's for us, it's a it's our daily bread. It's that even if it's more serious, and yeah, so the trick, we have several things that we help out with to significantly increase the life of 1000s and 1000s of pets every year. And we use a combination of homeopathy but also supplements, we find that when you join, put those two types of different types of alternative medicines together really worthwhile. Especially with cancer. So we just went through we had this 10 year old poodle, her name was Shelby. She was in remission, which was great. And unfortunately, she came out of remission, the cancer came back. So that was that's what was pretty sad. That's when her pet her pet parents came to us and she had to go through chemo again. So at that time, she was really weak, depressed, she wasn't really eating much. She was anemic, all of that. So um, so we had her start a homeopathic and mushroom based protocol. And mushrooms are also excellent, especially when it comes to cancer cases to support the animal. And in just a bit of time, her blood count her RN were much higher, she was eating every meal. And she was chasing, I think her one year old poodle brother around the house again, which was an in really like Not a lot of time. So she was feeling overall energetic, happy. So that I mean, that's a reward on a daily basis to be able to see where the pet started and have that feeling that we were able to help and support and give not only more years to a pet, but a quality of life, which is very important. Wow, I love it. And your products are for both cats and dogs, correct? Yes, they are. We do cats and dogs mostly, but they're good for horses, pigs, goats, you name it. That’s fantastic. Well, again, the name of your company is Zumalka. How do you How are you different from others in the industry? ZUMALKA Yeah, that's a great question. So like I said a little bit before um, We make sure that every single recommendation that goes out, we're not we don't just sell products. That's not how we want to be seen. We just offer a really good service. And so everything that, of course, you can go online and buy your products if that's what you want. But if the minute you come to us and ask us this, you ask us a question of what would be good for your pet, we have a full team match with ready to help. And I feel that you that's lacking a little bit in the industry at the moment unless you pay for a consultation. So we just offer it because we really believe that's that's how important it is to make sure you're directly directed properly towards the right remedies. Yeah, so our spree our products come and sprays and I would say we specialize in cancer care like that we put a lot of focus and effort in finding ways to help pets with cancer in the last years or so I think that's really something that we love doing on a day to day and are good. OFFER Well, for those interested in the audience, and you should be because the Zumalka products are absolutely amazing. And the formulations that are already there, make it easy for us to pick and choose. And the free consulting. You're right who does that? That is amazing. So Suzie has an offer for us. I am an affiliate because I love, love, love their products and what this company is all about. So if you want to try any of the outstanding Zumalka remedies, you can get a 10% discount by using my code, WOL10. When you purchase at Zumalka.com And that spelled Z U M A L K A.com. And you also get a free consults. So that is an amazing offer. Thank you, Suzie to you and your team. And unfortunately like usual, we come up to our time is coming to an end. But what do you want to leave us with today? And that's a good thing. If you're new to homeopathy or just natural alternative medicine in general, give it a try. Give it a try. It's definitely a great way to help your pet, support your pet, strengthen your pet. It's a great gift that you can offer your dog. Wonderful. Well, Suzie, thanks for being here. Where can everyone find out more about you and Zumalka? Sure well, Zumalka.com and we do have a YouTube channel if you type in Zumalka you can also find us there to learn up all kinds of things about natural products for your dog. FB: @Zumalka IG: @ZumalkaOfficial Perfect, Suzie, thank you so much. I know that you guys are going to continue to come out with more products to help our dogs and cats naturally. So I just want to thank you for all that you do and making a difference. Thank you Krista. It was a pleasure. Thanks again to our friends at System Saver for sponsoring this month's episodes. Check out this fantastic all natural formula by going to Caninesystemssaver.com And be sure to use the code wol10 For 10% off. Thanks for listening. You'll find some helpful links in the show notes and if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. And please, please share your feedback. Visit WagOutLoud.com for great product recommendations with discounts, amazing online events and fantastic resources. That's also where to visit our Bark About It page where you can suggest topics, guests or products. Be advised that this show offers health and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your dog's health, you should always consult a veterinarian or a nutrition expert. Have a tail wagging day and we'll catch you next time. Don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE and please leave a review: Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify I Stitcher I iHeartRADIO The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. The host as well as guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and Wag Out Loud LLC neither endorses or opposes any particular views discussed here.
November 1, 2023
The Pawfect Health Watch: A Complete Guide for Monitoring Your Dog’s Health
Hello dog parents! This is Krista with Episode #187 on the Wag Out Loud pawdcast. Just checking to see if you have looked into the amazing trusted brands that I highly recommend. And these are products that I have researched and tried that I know, like and trust. And these products will help your dog to thrive as well. So just go to WagOutLoud.com and check out the trusted brands section. And I've negotiated discounts for most of the products, so why not see what can make a difference in your dog's life? And don't forget to also check out the resources page as well, because it's filled with so many very important resources for both you and your dog. Here is some good news. Pet Food Labels are getting an overhaul starting next year in 2024. And it's going to look more like human nutrition labels, which should make them easier to understand. The Nutrition Facts box will replace the current Guaranteed Analysis section and the calorie statement and also new, there's going to be a specific statement of intended use. For example 100% complete food for adult dogs. And an optional label item will be handling and storage instructions. Welcome to the Wag Out Loud pawdcast, where we are obsessed with bringing you helpful tips on canine health care, nutrition, and overall wellbeing. If you'd like to support the show, check out the amazing online events, products and resources that I personally recommend on the Wag Out Loud website. I'm your host, Krista and I'm super excited to be bringing you yet another tail wagging episode. Hello again dog lovers. Thanks for tuning in to a nother informative Wag Out Loud pawdcast episode. Today. I am so lucky to have not one, but two guests. With me today is Dr. Rory Lubold and Dr. Joe Menicucci. And they are here to chat about the Pawfect Health Watch: a complete guide for monitoring your dog's health. And that's what we're all about. Right, is dog health. So gentlemen, welcome to the Show. Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you. Well, I'm excited. We've had this on the books for quite a while. Before we get started. Why don't each of you introduce yourselves and tell us why you wanted to cover this topic that we're discussing right now on how to monitor our dog's health? Absolutely, we'd love to like give you some background, my name is Rory Lubold. I'm a veterinarian, practicing exclusively in the emergency realm and really love this topic, because it's so important to really focus on on preventative care and maintenance of health and identifying diseases early, so the pets don't get sick or have it more mild if they do. And so this is a really important topic for me because it helps keep our pets out of emergency rooms or being sick for any reason that we can avoid. Yeah, and my name is Dr. Joe Menicucci. I'm a veterinarian as well. Actually, Rory and I have been We were classmates, but then also friends for oh, 19 years now. So excited to do this together. We both have like he was saying a passion for pets and making sure that they're healthy. So yeah, my background is that I've done a lot of mixed animal medicine, a lot of mobile stuff. So I would be going to the pet parents’ house and doing more the wellness and care there. So thank you for having us on. Well, I'm glad you're here to give us a great educational opportunity. So we're gonna be covering the this is a really crucial topic, everybody. Pet Health Management, of course, specifically, we're focusing on dogs. And gentlemen, when we originally spoke, you said that as a dedicated pet parent, our responsibility really goes beyond just providing you know, the food, the shelter, and of course, lots of love. But now we need to understand how to monitor our dog's health to ensure that they do have a happy and healthy life. So I know there's a protocol that you suggest. So why don't we start there and unpack what that protocol looks like. THE PROTOCOL OF MONITORING Great. Happy to dive into that a little bit. So obviously, as you've mentioned, Food, shelter and love are the first key components, right? Good healthy food and, and great, great home for them. It's so, so important. The next step beyond that really is focusing on on monitoring. And so there are some things that are pretty, pretty standard monitoring protocol that that everybody's probably familiar with. You check the stool sample for worms for puppies, and you do heartworm testing every year. And those are, those are a great start, there's really a next step beyond that. And it depends a little bit on your region, depends a little bit on what kind of pet you have more age they are. So this is really kind of custom tailored. And we do recommend consulting with your veterinarian, as well, because this is a partnership on how do we keep them healthy as long as possible, and have them live as good a life as possible. So the policies or the protocol, rather, that we we recommend, typically says you know, in most areas of the country, checking a stool sample every every year is probably good enough, in some areas every six months is probably is probably ideal, because there's areas that are have a higher load of parasites. And so that's really important that you're checking stool samples more frequently. In pets that are over three, four or five years old dogs and cats. What we really recommend as veterinarians and most veterinarians have found to be really helpful is starting to check anually for organ functions. So you can certainly check that younger as well. And anytime at about three years old, we really should be looking for organ functions like liver, kidneys, bone marrow function, urinalysis, which is such a key component to that as well. And so you know, we really believe that that annual monitoring is sort of a minimum. And then and then once they get up to the 5, 6, 7 range, being able to check them every six months, is really key. And in some areas that also includes infectious diseases like tick ,tick borne diseases and fungal diseases. Right. And Dr. Roy, I am glad that you are talking about this. Because we really need to get a baseline on our animals to find out, you know, what's normal for them? Can you talk about the baseline information? What it helps us with? And when, h ow soon should we start, you know, monitoring all of these different areas. HAVE A BASELINE Yeah, I think the baseline is so important to really understand that you need to kind of look at it and say a single point in time gives us some good information. So data that we take, say we take a blood test today, that's really important. But if we take that blood test again, in six months or a year, the change between today and then is one of the biggest things that that we as veterinarians will look at. And so it's not just a single point in time, but being able to watch trends and being able to better understand what these changes mean for them, allows us to intervene, change the nutrition, change the medications, change lifestyle, that will actually help to stave off some of the medical conditions that are coming. I think as we as we move into the sort of the machine learning and extra data, stuff that's happening in the world, there's obviously a lot of that happening, that trend is going to be even more important because we're going to see more detail from from having baselines, and then figuring out what changes in three 6-12 months to be able to predict future diseases and head them off before they actually become a problem. And when we take our dogs to the vet, besides, you know, the eye, ears, nose, heart, the diagnostics that we've just mentioned, you know, the stool sample, urinalysis, what about CBC? How detailed should we get with a blood panel. BLOOD WORK So typically, for the blood panel, we're going to recommend at least the core core workup. And that's going to be a CBC which is going to look at all the main cells, red blood cells, and white blood cells and platelets, and a lot of different parameters in there. We also want to see a chemistry that's going to look at the at least the basic organ function for kidney enzymes, liver and pancreas stuff. And so it's really going to get a full picture of how everything works together. And so those are the things that we add in honestly, and this is probably one of the tests to get sort of overlooked the most. But urinalysis to me is still one of the key components there because there’s so many things that will show up in the urine And that's actually pretty easy to test for it's relatively easy to collect the sample. And really that allows us to tell a lot about diabetes and kidney function, liver function, a lot of different things too. especially great for male cats and certainly for for other other pets as well. And is it better for us to collect that before we come into the practice or have you guys get a fresh sample? URINALYSIS AND STOOL SAMPLES Depends a little bit if you're talking about urine explicitly, then sense a little bit on what the what we're looking for. This is something that we suspect there like a UTI, it's always better for us to collect those samples in the hospital, which have cleaner methods of collecting them. If we're just looking for kind of a routine monitoring, and that's something that can be collected at home, pretty easily collected at home and stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator, put in the bag and put it in the fridge. many times that’s the less stressful way to do it, not nearly as clean. So if we're going to do this, we're looking for bacteria. That's not the ideal situation. But for routine monitoring that works very nicely. And would the same go for a stool sample airtight in the frigerator. For how long? How long would it be good for? Correct? Yeah, so the stool samples are a little bit less finicky about being refrigerated. And I always worried a little bit about things in store stool samples in the fridge where we make meals. That's always a hot topic. Interestingly, so long as they're not excessively hot, like I live in Phoenix, like It's brutally hot here. So we could keep them in an inside area with temperature control. And those samples are, usually good for a day or two, before they get to the clinic, or before they get to the lab. With some of the newer tests, we can actually still test them up to about a week out. And there's some great, there's some great new test techniques that we're using to give us really, really detailed results on samples that may not be as as fresh as we normally would like. Okay, that's good to know. Before we take a sponsor break, would you both tell us the difference between what should not only a professional vet check look like? And how often, but what can we be doing at home? To monitor our dogs? MONITORING OUR DOGS AT HOME That's a great question. I think there's two components to that sort of stuff that we do the Veterinary Clinic and I'm under ideal circumstances, you'd see your veterinarian at least once a year, you'd see them you’d get a hands on exam, a physical exam, we actually get the hands on your pet. And that's so important, because we're gonna be able to look for things that are really something, you may not notice at home. We look for lymph node changes and abdominal pain and masses. And other things that may not be apparent to those of us who are just loving our pets at home. And so there's there's absolutely no substitute for that piece. That's really, really important. The things that we can do at home, there's a lot you can do, you can monitor for things like appetite changes, and frequency of urination, and thirst changes, those are really important things. You can also be checking. Sometimes it's difficult. We know in this day and age, it's very difficult to get in and see a veterinarian. there's simply not enough of us, not enough clinics, there's not enough appointments available. So the things that you can be doing in the meantime, you can actually run these tests at home, you can run a stool sample, a urine test, and in many cases a blood test at home. Not that you have to collect. There's some ways to do that. But you can do these tests at home. And they're a wonderful supplement for the six months between between your annual exams, you do it at six months, and now you've got a good checkin point, that you can get at least your veterinarian some data that they can work with. So it's not the same as a hands on visit. But they are getting some data that they can look at. So now instead of being a year between visits, only six months between having some contact with your vet. I love it. Well, I think to add to that, is there's certainly things you could do. For monitoring weight, you could get a pet scale, or you could just weigh yourself as well and and your pet, subtract the weight. Just to kind of monitor that. You could also making sure endurance. So if you're noticing that your pet, you know, we all want to play with our pet in the yard. So we're starting to see a little bit of the endurance going down. That's another thing to kind of watch for. So just being constantly. The helicopter parent, I would say is a good thing for pets because they can't tell us what's going on, unfortunately, and you are you as a pet parent have the best, best thing to do for them because you have your eyes. You see them every day, you're gonna see what they're doing. And if there's anything abnormal, there's something most likely going on. So it's always good to check. Sure. Well, this brings up a good point in my mind, especially since COVID. You know, we relied on telehealth instead of in practice visits. And I know that telehealth is still going strong, in your opinion, isn't the best case scenario having a veterinarian with real eyes on, live on your dog versus trying to correspond via an online chat? TELEHEALTH VISITS Yeah, I think that's I think the answer to that, for me at least and certainly Dr. Joe might have a different feeling but I think for me the answer to that is it's not just a single solution. And so having veterinary clinics, we know that we're you know, we're under serving the population of pets up to 30% of veterinarians that we actually need, in many cases, and so getting appointments and getting in and getting the sort of hands on is not always or at least not as quickly as we need. And so there are many times where the telehealth component becomes a break. And that becomes a bridge of handling the things that that may not be necessarily urgent, or they just have simple questions that would otherwise take up an urgent appointment if they go to the vet’s. And so there really is a multiple sort of approach component here until at the veterinarian and there's no substitute for hands on an experienced doctor putting their hands on a pet and getting a full picture. There's no substitute. But in the meantime, when they can't make that happen, sometimes the vet can actually reduce the burden on the emergency room by simply having a telehealth doctor give an opinion. So I think that that's an important component to it. And certainly, we're very focused on the diagnostic space, we're having alternative ways of doing diagnostics that allow telehealth and the diagnostics to coordinate with the in person vet. now you have this perfect triad. We have a lot of people looking at your pet, as a profession with a lot of people looking at your pet, different opinions and different, you know, everybody looking at the same data point saying, hey, how do we keep them happy and healthy? That's our goal. So there's certainly areas where telehealth can be doesn't doesn't fit. But there's I think that's why all three need to work in concert. Great point. I would certainly second that. Okay, perfect. Well, gentlemen, I am going to put you on hold for just a moment so that we can take a quick sponsor break and we will be right back. Thanks so much to the team at System Saver for being this month's feature sponsor. Dr. Baker's canine System Saver is an outstanding all natural supplement that promotes healthy aging. Originally created by a veterinarian to help restore health and soundness to dogs suffering from chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions. This is one product that does so much. It's perfect for arthritis, hip dysplasia, and joint support, chronic dermatitis, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, and geriatric support for successful aging and quality of life extension. Now with the start of allergy season, System Saver works wonders on canine allergies as well. Learn more by going to Caninesystemsaver.com To relieve your dog's discomfort naturally. And as a bonus, wag out loud listeners can take advantage of a 10% discount by using the code WOL10 At checkout. Hello, everybody. We are back with Dr. Rory and Dr. Joe having an amazing discussion. And why we need a baseline of information of our dog's health and what that means throughout their life. So now we're going to talk about the role of lab testing. And gentlemen, we talked about in the beginning, the importance of a fecal, a urinalysis, and blood work. So why don't you tell us about how lab testing has been done in the past and what you are doing to improve those diagnostics? LAB TESTING Great. Well, yeah, a little short history on some labs that are in medicine. There's a handful of veterinary labs that historically served all the veterinary hospitals in the US. And they, you know, they provide service and veterinarians can collect samples and send to the lab, and then the veterinarian receives a sample back results back and then they can review them, make some adjustments and interpretation, and then discuss with the pet parent about what they do with that. And that method has worked very, very well, for a long time, there wasn't as much information. Luckily, there wasn't as much information about why to test and when to test and what to test. And so that worked very well, because the veterinarian was a wonderful source of information for that and, and, and access to the lab tests. As we move into sort of kind of a 21st century approach, we look at all everything that's happening on the human side with kind of the quantified self and all that data, sort of the data that we're collecting on humans and ancestry stuff and the genetic testing and human access to lab work. We're finding that pet parents are really wanting to be able to check their, to monitor their their pet's health with more frequent testing than they may see at a vet’s. And so what we find is that, you know, we're recommending every three, six or potentially 12 months for lab testing as veterinarian, but we may not have appointments as frequently as our pet parents need. So what what we see in this is what we found is kind of the future of veterinary medicine is really this access to diagnostic care that is pet parent driven, so it's driven by the pet parent to want to do the best they can for their pets, they want to be able to participate in care. And that's such an important part. Nobody wants to be necessarily just told what to do, they want to participate. And that's where medicine is going. And so you know, having that access to care where you can just say, I want to get this testing done on my pet, between visits with the veterinarian. And I think that that's really where we're headed. And that's what you guys are doing with Affordable Pet Labs. Right? How did that come to be? AFFORDABLE PET LABS So we started affordable pet labs in 2019, my team really with the idea that, that access to care is becoming more and more difficult and that access is costly. It's appointment times, and it's sort of availability. And physical access, sometimes people aren't able to get in, you know, maybe they have a stressed cat that they can't put in the box and don't want to drag to the vet every six months for lab work, or three months, if they're on thyroid meds God forbid, you know, they've got a 90 pound dog and they physically can't lift them in the car. that becomes an access to care problem. And so, you know, we tried to tackle these three things, the cost, availability and access, you know, in physical, physical proximity, by being able to bring some of that testing to the home. So really, what we're doing is we said look can we offer the same quality. So we're using the same reference lab quality that we use in the veterinary clinics, can we offer that same quality? But do it in the home? Can we bring experienced technicians to the home in a low stress environment? At a price that's affordable? So people can do it twice a year, once every year or every two years? Because it gets so expensive sometime? You know, can we do that in the home, low stress, lower costs, and same quality. And what we found is that we can we're able to offer that we're in 11 cities currently doing blood work, where we're able to do a whole host of bloodwork, almost everything we can do that you can do in the clinic, we can do in the home, we always send a pair of technicians don't expect anybody to draw their own pet’s blood. That's not That's not fair. Yeah, exactly. That would be stressful. And we don't even expect you to hold your pet like we send two technicians always want to make sure that they've got that they're, you know, they're able to have a good experience. And then you know, and then we expanded that said, Look, you know, we can we also know that we can do urine and fecal testing, stool testing for worms, we can do that really easily through the mail nationwide. So we have these entire kits that have everything you need to collect a urine sample and a stool sample you use or, and then you send it back to us and you get the results in a couple of days. then we share that with your vet. And we share all those results with the veterinarian so that they have the results, you have the results as the pet parent. And now there can be a discussion around here's what we do next. Here's what this means. Well, I wanted to reiterate, one thing that we are really trying to focus on is sharing the results with the pet parent as well. I do feel like sometimes in the clinic, world, we're so worried about the next pet that maybe getting sick, you don't share enough of that information out there. So one thing that as Affordable Pet Labs, we're trying hard to do is change the industry where we can actually have it where pet parents get to participate in the health of their pet. So they get the information with them so they could review it and have questions. We want those questions to be asked in those exams so that you as a pet parent get to understand what's going on as well. Yeah, and I think that's really, we're at the stage now in with technology and everything that you have Dr. Google and which is helpful for a little bit. But what we really want is, have that connection with your veterinarian with these results. Ask those questions because your veterinarian can relay more personalized information about your pet to you. So Dr. Google is great for a quick Hey, what does this mean? But your veterinarian will be able to give that? Well, what we're seeing in the past here are the values and this is what we see. And this is why we are concerned or we're not concerned. So that's the stuff that's really what I'm excited about? Right. Well, and to your point in the beginning, so crucial to have the baseline for your own dog to see what is normal and abnormal for them. Well, since you guys are doing blood draws I know when we first met, I brought this up, are you able to do titer testing as well? TITER TESTING So if you look at sort of a whole host of all lab testing that’s available, there's probably only about half a dozen things that we can't or won't do. And those are things that we firmly believe should be done in the veterinary clinic. Outside of that, titer testing for vaccines and for infectious diseases. Probably makes up, I would say I haven’t taken a look at the numbers recently, but I would say probably makes up 25 or 30% of our of our work right now. Because it's such an important component of monitoring. And why not go through you because I know at least what titers, everybody has to send those out. There isn’t a practice that just can do that in house. Couldn't agree more. The one thing that we're titer testing for, we just don't do the export titer testing, that's something that you would need to go in through your veterinarian so that they can perform the physical exam so that they can create the health paper that would be required for travel. But if it's just for Hey, what's my dog's rabies values? Or parvo. Didn't you guys tell me that you also work with rescues on the blood panels? WORKING WITH RESCUES We do. And I was hoping we would definitely talk about that. So what we have right now is and for the future is our heartstrings are going towards those rescues. And we know a lot of pets are actually not getting homes, because as a potential pet parent, we might just not know how the health is in the pet so or so to help get more get pets more homes is that we are working on with with rescues to provide a discount service, where rescues will get a 20% discount off of all of our tests, there is a quick little form you have to fill out this to make sure that you are a rescue. But we it's the same process where they just go onto our website, apply. And then once they get that just unique discount code, all the rescue for the life of that rescue will get a discount whenever they purchase through us. And we are also working with a different couple groups on trying to get more involved with the shelters as well so so that we can help them as well save money so that they could put more of that money towards the health and the care of those animals. But then also, hopefully share those records with the pet owner or pet parent when they actually adopt, that animal so they already have a little package together. And there's the baseline that we talked about. But now for a pet that you may not have known previously. What a great program. That's awesome. Such an important part of our commitment to the community to make sure that we're actually we're actually helping community not just not just providing service to pet parents, but also to future pet parents. Right. Well, before we sign off today, gentlemen, we all love stories, because we can relate to those. are there any stories that come to your minds as far as somebody that did do the at home testing at Affordable Pet Labs? And what was the outcome? The before the after? Yeah, I'll go. So interestingly, this is kind of specific for Phoenix, but there's a disease called Valley fever. And really what we have found is a couple examples that came up to my mind and just right now is we've had a couple rescue groups, people reaching out to rescue groups, saying, Hey, I don't know what's going on with my pet. And we've had those rescue groups referring, hey, just get your pet tested for valley fever. It sounds like this. Through Affordable Pet Labs. Well, we had one individual that I can remember really, and they were concerned about this other dog and of course, we'd be very concerned if it started showing signs of sickness and everything. Well, our what we did is we went out and had our tech, go and do the collection. And one of the things that was interesting is that we noticed with this value that like hey, this was our CBC chem, let's add something to that, because we know that your pet is not feeling well. Some of the values on the CBC counts look routine. But there's some elevation on some others. But what we could do is let's add a valley fever test to this. And we added it, we got the results in two days, and the pet was positive for valley fever. And pretty much from there, their pet parent was super excited because they had an answer. And then they were able to go to their veterinarian where this is that connection that we really want with, that we love to have with veterinarians is that we share those records with them, they were able to get the treatment going. And the animal’s doing much better. Now, because we found that there was that additional thing that needed to be added to that test. We're just reviewing those results. So and that's knowing that there's something wrong, but then getting that testing done is so important. It's going to help those tests in the long run. Great example. Wow. Yay. I like happy endings. We do too. Yes, of course, you obviously both of you are so passionate. And we are so grateful for you, Dr. Joe and Dr. Rory, where can everyone find out more information about you and Affordable Pet Labs? Yeah, that's a real easy search. Google search is AffordablePetLabs.com. We are in multiple states. We also have the collection kits that you can order online. And really just if you have a rescue, or anyone that is interested in getting the discount program, let us know. they are on this website, there's a form that you could just contact us and we could chat with you. Usually, it's some of the times it's Rory and I on the chat, kind of talking with pet parents to find out what's going on. But then we do have the rescue application there. So website, Facebook, social media, all those places. We're constantly monitoring and trying to help people out. So just look up Affordable Pet Labs. Social Media URLs or Tags Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/affordablepetlabsandservices/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/affordablepetlabs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/affordable-pet-labs/?viewAsMember=true Wonderful. And I'll put all of these links in the show notes for everybody. Before we end this very informative interview. Do either of you have anything you'd like to leave us with? No, I think I really appreciate the opportunity to chat about the importance of diagnostics and routine monitoring. So we can start treatment as early as possible. If we do find something hopefully we don't. But certainly if we do, it's nice to be able to start treatment early. So I'm I'm excited to be able to continue the discussion around around how we keep them healthy. And how do we want to monitor so this is really exciting. Start the discussion. That's what we do. Well, thank you both so much. We really appreciate it. And everybody check out AffordablePetLabs.com Thanks again to our friends at System Saver for sponsoring this month's episodes. Check out this fantastic all natural formula by going to Caninesystemssaver.com And be sure to use the code wol10 For 10% off. Thanks for listening. You'll find some helpful links in the show notes and if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. And please, please share your feedback. Visit WagOutLoud.com for great product recommendations with discounts, amazing online events and fantastic resources. That's also where to visit our Bark About It page where you can suggest topics, guests or products. Be advised that this show offers health and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your dog's health, you should always consult a veterinarian or a nutrition expert. Have a tail wagging day and we'll catch you next time. Don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE and please leave a review: Apple Podcasts | Android | Spotify I Stitcher I iHeartRADIO The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. The host as well as guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and Wag Out Loud LLC neither endorses or opposes any particular views discussed here.
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