Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:24 Um, cuz you kinda get so far into it. And then when, when certain things come up and you, and you and you go through those, like when certain stories pop up and on Facebook or truth about pet food post something and you just like, there's a little bit of hype for it for a little while and then that kind of moves on and you go through it over through the course of the years and then you've got new people who come on and you're happy for new people to come on. But we're like, Oh yeah, we've, we've dealt with this, we've moved past it and you've been kind of in it for a while, so you kind of forget what's happened. And it's, it, I always have that reminder because I'm in so many Facebook groups and I'll, I'll go through my group newsfeed and look at questions from people who are brand new and brand new and brand new.
Speaker 1 00:01:03 They're like, I'm getting ready to transition and, and I forget that so many people are learning about it and kind of wanting to go the fresh food way, which is great. But it, it's, it's that weird kind of wonky feeling when we're still learning ourselves. We've been in it for so long. And then trying to remember how you were when you just started and, and asking the, you know what I call 'em stupid questions cuz it's just like, I should know the answer, but I don't. And I always preface it and like, I have a stupid question and most people are, they kind of do the same thing. They're just like, Forgive me. I don't know what I'm asking, but I'm just learning. So you have to appreciate that they're learning, but then you kind of remember where we are and how long we've been in it. So it's a lot of grace to be given and, but still, yeah, it's, I don't, I don't know the right term for it, but it's, it's kind of like, it's good but it's weird at the same time.
Speaker 2 00:01:52 I know. And I think that's why I wanted to do this project, um, for so many reasons. Um, number one, cuz I love you as a human being. I think you're just awesome. You know? And like I told you, you know, you are, you are like the closest butt mama I know. And I, in my heart, I wish I had like, you know, whole, you know, birds around me. But I, I, I can't right now cuz I think there'll be a massacre, you know, if my cats and dogs got involved. Um, but, you know, living through you vicariously through your life and, um, what you share, um, it's, it's something that, you know, I like you so much. I just, I just wanna spend more time with you, you know, And you've gotta, you gotta, you gotta, you got an amazing brain. A lot of people might not realize this because you're so low profile, you're low key, you know? Um, but you're such an active, um, supporter. And actually, um, one of the, the main volunteers for Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney BI in the Insights Group. And as you said, you are like an admin. So I don't know how many groups are you in admin of? I have no idea. What, what is it?
Speaker 1 00:03:03 Well, technically it would be the dog cancer series, which is kind of active, but not really. It's mostly like, um, when posts get reshared to the group, um, the Life with Dogs and Cats, That one, which that doesn't see a whole lot of action. Um, The Forever Dog has a group page, but it also has a Facebook page, which I get those confused all the time. <laugh>, I'm trying to look for something. And then there's the Inside Scoop group as well. I believe those are all of it. I'm not missing any, I'm pretty sure that's all of them. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:03:39 So, And then,
Speaker 1 00:03:40 Yeah, and then like other pages, the repository page that I kind of tinker with here and there when we find something to share or post about. But yeah, there's, there's a lot of pages.
Speaker 2 00:03:50 <laugh> Yeah. A lot of pages and a lot of information that you actually go through. Um, I think the main one, the crux, the sense of the universe in that sense for our fresh feeding communities, really the insights group. That's where things get generated out, you know, in a way for, well, you know, the 2.0 pet parents is we, we, we seem to call ourselves. Um, Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:04:13 And that, that has over a thousand members in it now.
Speaker 2 00:04:16 Holy crap. Wow.
Speaker 1 00:04:18 Yeah. Let me double check cuz I know last time I looked I think it was Oh wow, it jumped. Yeah, there's, there's 2,100 members in
Speaker 2 00:04:27 There. Oh really? Wow.
Speaker 1 00:04:29 We were, we were at 900 for like a while cause where it was like the first edition of Inside Scoop and then we had to, the whole group thing got changed around so everybody had like, move over and that was a struggle, um, to kind of tell every where to go. And we were at about just under a thousand for quite a while. Um, but yeah, it jumped up. I did not realize it jumped that high, but it did. So yeah, 2000 members.
Speaker 2 00:04:48 Well I think
Speaker 1 00:04:49 There's a lot of new people that are just joining
Speaker 2 00:04:51 <laugh>. Yeah. So that, that's probably thanks to the former dog book, you know, and, and, and all that, uh, marketing and publicity that the publishing company has been also, you know, generating, uh, for, for the book as well, you know, so that's pretty cool. So I mean, like for me it's a timely thing cuz um, I have listened on the audio book, like, at least, at least four times, probably more. I don't know. I've got a bit of OCD when it comes to, to listening to stuff. Um, but um, you know, like I told you, my memory's a bit of a thief sometimes. So like, it goes in, it comes out and then it might manifest and come out of the, the, the, the woodwork somehow when, when I need it, you know? But to actually like remember, uh, everything chronologically is a bit of a blur for me.
Speaker 2 00:05:42 So I thought this is a timely, it's a timely thing. Cuz the book came out in September last year or October. Last October I think it was. Yeah, yeah. October last year. So I thought that, you know, this is actually a great time, um, to, to do this project, to like do a, you know, spend time, my favorite Bird mama and, and have a review on The Forever Dog as a, as a project, you know. And also to give back to the community, especially for a lot of the new pet parents out there who might have never heard of the book. They don't know if they wanna spend the money on buying the book, you know? Um, I love the book. Uh, The Heart, The Heart Cover. I've got like two, I bought like several copies and I gave some away. And then I've got like two hard copies now and I've got one that's, uh, signed by them, the authors, which I, I love.
Speaker 2 00:06:29 And I'm using it, it's right in front of me cuz I need their, their super, you know, their Spirit channel to me, you know, The power Give me that, that courage. Um, but the audio book, um, cuz I, I think I'm better at listening and I like, and I'm always running around and doing stuff. So listening to and doing things at the same time works, works better for me. Um, the one criticism I have of the audiobook is that I wish Rodney and Dr. Becker read it cause it was read by someone else. And, um, I know, I know the publishers, they, with Audible, they usually, from what I understand with Audible, is that they only want, you know, people who have the professional voice to read the book to generate the sales. But I think as an, as a, a person who's followed them for I don't know how long now, and an insight scoop, if they read the book, it would've ah, man, you know, a lot more, uh, another layer of, um, connectedness, you know, to them with the story.
Speaker 2 00:07:39 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that, that's my, that's my one gripe about the Audible book, the audio book version. Right. But other than that, um, I love this book so much. I actually have the cover of this book on my WhatsApp profile thing, you know, to, to promote it, you know? Um, and whenever I see like doc parents, you know, I catch, I'm like, Oh, you know, I try to slip it in. By the way, have you heard of, have you read or heard of The Forever Dog? You know, you don't, Oh, you know, you should. Here, let me send you a link. You can go and, you know, check it out kind of thing. Um, but yeah, so this, this project is something that I've been having in the back of my mind for a long time. And I thought I, you know, I don't have the confidence to carry it on my own cuz I'm such a holy person in my head sometimes. Um, but so who, who can I, who can I lean on for this and into and, and, and pick her intelligent mind? And the first person that came out was Shana Allen. I mean, like seriously, Um, I said one of my favorite people, honestly. I love spending time with her so much. So this is just a really nice excuse to at least spend another, you know, 10 chapters together, <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:08:56 We Shall and it shall be fun. We will do a lot of discussing of a lot of dog and
Speaker 2 00:09:01 Things. Yeah. Cause you know, like, I, what, what do you think of the book? Tell me.
Speaker 1 00:09:08 I I think it's great. I think it's great that there's information finally in a physical form because not everybody likes the internet. Not everybody knows where to look. We are so used to having, you know, books of information. We grow up learning from books of information. So to finally have something that's a physical copy, which I, I like to call it Dr. Becker's brain, like in book form. I think that's the best way to describe it. She did do the, you know, the bulk of the writing. Rodney admitted to doing the, the pictures in Graph and the Science, but she did the book of the writing. Um, but it, it, it reads like Karen talks, so if you know how she talks, then it's, for me anyway, it was easier to kind of glide through it. I'm just like, okay. Yes, it's exactly how she, I know formulates all of her knowledge, it comes out of her. Um, but yes, I think it's, it's wonderful to finally have something in physical form that we can tell people about and say, here you can read it at your own paces. You can read it at your own time instead of like, sometimes not everybody is comfortable sitting, you know, in front of a computer screen reading bits and pieces of an article here and a tidbit there. And also if everything's kind of like nicely packaged in a beautiful little book.
Speaker 2 00:10:20 Yeah. But I, yeah, I think, um, I think one of the things that I, I also do tell, um, some Pat friends cuz they know, they, they, some, some of them are like say like, Oh, I think there was like, you know, like, might have been some errors in the book or, you know, or like, what if the updates or stuff, you know, And I, and I tell 'em, actually there's a website, the Farm dog website where, you know, any, any updated information in real time will be updated there. So, you know, I I do tell people like, um, you have to remember a book was printed at a specific time, you know, and that's it. But in terms of information, whatever that, um, moving forward in a timeline, you know, um, will get updated on the website. So if there's like, you know, um, typographical errors or whatever, or you know, like new research that's there is going to be reflected on, on their website. So I actually do tell people like, you know, go to the website, check it out, You know, and then it'll send you to links to the community where if you want to, um, talk to other people who are, you know, are reading the book or ask more questions, um, that's the best place to go. Um, you really?
Speaker 1 00:11:38 Yeah. the.com. Yes. There's tons more resources there. All the science, um, cause they didn't put all the links in the book otherwise the book would've been like twice as big as it is. <laugh> it wasn't rule. And they had to keep it so many pages in order to get it to print. Yeah. But yes, all, every, all the studies that are referenced are all online on Forever dog.com. And I tend to, uh, yes, there were some typographical errors that were addressed and those were corrected online. And there's also some great resources. There's extra PDFs and I direct a lot of people to the recipes online. Cause a lot of people were looking for recipes in this book. And I believe there's only two. Yep. There's not very many. Um, there was two like, kind of basic ones, but there's a ton more online graciously provided by several different, um, formulators from around the world. There's quite a few from Australia too. So it can be, uh, multi useful for people who are just about everywhere. But yes, under the extras tab, under the resources, there's um, recipes and everything that people can find and definitely search out to help them on their journey.
Speaker 2 00:12:41 Yes. I remember page 2 42 because I've had to refer that, uh, longevity, uh, bone broth thing, um, recipe to some pet parents cuz it was their first time doing it. And I was like, okay, you know what? The book has a simple recipe, you can go for it. So I, it's funny. So I had to look for it and then I gave them the pH number. So I remember it's 2 42 even in my sleep now. I still remember it's 2 42 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:13:10 Good for you.
Speaker 2 00:13:11 I know. See some weird things stick in my brain sometimes and I don't realize it really. Oh,
Speaker 1 00:13:17 One thing I'll point out to kind of get started on this that sticks out with me is one of the first things I highlighted in my book was Eat more. Sorry, I'm gonna start that over. You can fix that.
Speaker 2 00:13:35 No, I'm not <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:13:37 No, it was not Eat more. I know I highlighted it. No, I don't know where to put it. I even got all on my tags.
Speaker 2 00:13:44 How long
Speaker 1 00:13:44 Is it in the intro? I think it's in, it's in the introduction. No wonder I'm looking in a completely wrong spot.
Speaker 2 00:13:51 Okay, there you go.
Speaker 1 00:13:52 There it is. I I was in chapter one already because one of the, um, first things I highlighted in this book, which I'm glad is the very, in the beginning portion of it in the introduction is em bolded letters is eat less, eat fresher, move more and more often. And that's one thing that I hope people take away from just right off the bat is the eat less, eat fresher and move more. It's a great, great sentence to kind of kick off the little light bulb moments that are gonna come in the book.
Speaker 2 00:14:25 Yeah. Oh, that's actually a really good quote, and I think a lot of people don't realize it now or yet, is that this book is also gonna help you, the pet owner, if you, if you get into it and your brain, your no's gonna stop, you know, turning a bit. After a while you're gonna realize that, hey, I can apply this to myself too. Because if that's one thing that, um, um, Dr. Becker, she, she says that, you know, all the studies, you know, that that's on longevity for this book was actually really more or less tested on animals, you know, on dogs, you know, for the human, for the human industry. For the human sector in that sense. Oh yeah. So, so it's like, yeah. So whatever I would say in general works for the, the, for your dog and cats, by the way, there's a lot of things that you can use for cats.
Speaker 2 00:15:22 Cuz I'm, I'm a I'm a bi petal pet owner, so I cats a dog, you know, and, and, um, let me say that, you know, I have applied whatever I've learned from, from this book and, and following, um, Dr. Becker and, and Rodney like all these years is that, you know, whatever works for the dogs. Like, I think, yeah, you know, so's not toxic or you know, the big, big warning sign there. Um, you can actually apply it to the cats, you know, and not just cats, but I would say any companion animals in general, the philosophy is there. You know? Cause what was your number one quote that you just said again?
Speaker 1 00:16:04 Eat less, eat fresher, and move more.
Speaker 2 00:16:06 There you go. <laugh>. And I think if everyone followed that, that, that simple principle in life I think will all be a lot healthier, you know?
Speaker 1 00:16:17 Oh yeah. It's definitely kind of like, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? It's a good kind of health cope. Just all everything wrapped up into one. It's, it's nice, simple, easily said, you know, easily remembered. It's just literally eat. We don't need to eat such big portions, neither do our animals. We need to eat fresher. We don't need to eat so much processed food or ultra processed food, you know? And we do need to move more, you know, our animals need to get out and move. We need to get out and move. You know, it's a lot of the foundational aspects of kind of being on the right path.
Speaker 2 00:16:48 Yeah. Well I would say this is an introduction to, to why they started the book as well. Um, you know, cuz if you read the book in case you don't know the background of, uh, Dr. Karen Becker and Rodney Bit, um, they, it's because they were pet owners and dog owners themselves that, you know, what they went through with their dog's health issues, um, make them want to learn. And, and the more they learned, then they started to share, you know, that information. So this is really, you know, in essence, um, why we have to forever dog book really. You know,
Speaker 1 00:17:33 I, I totally agree. And I think that's how a lot of people kind of got into it, is a lot of times you don't realize what you can do until you come across a problem. You have a pet, you, you get it for the companionship or you love animals, and then somewhere along the line, some adverse health event happens and you wanna be able to do the best you can. And usually that first animal, you don't really quite know what to do. You know, we're usually, we might be young when we have an animal or might be your first time having an animal and you literally just, you get it because they're cute and fuzzy and you hope you can do the best. But yeah, something goes terribly awry and you want people to do, and you, and you're relying on, you know, veterinarians to help you through that process, whatever the adverse event is.
Speaker 1 00:18:19 You know, why did my dog get pancreatitis? Why did my dog get kidney disease? Why do they have these, you know, lumps and bumps on them? Why did they keep getting ye to ears? Some, um, you know, dogs do well and then you have, you know, I, I'm one of those types, when something goes wrong, I wanna know why it went wrong and I wanna know what I can do better the next time. And I know there's a lot of us out there and it, it kind of gets your wheels going and your gears grinding and you learn and you wanna look it up. Every, every adverse health event I experienced with my animals, I immediately ran to the computer and be like, Let me look this up. Let me understand the why. So if I understand the why, you know, you kinda work through it a little bit easier.
Speaker 1 00:19:02 And I think that once you learn little bits and you have, you know, something, you know, either at adverse health event or you know, a tragic event with the loss of your dog from, you know, cancer, you didn't even know they could get those light bulbs go off and then you're like, Okay, what can I do better the next time? How did I learn from this? You know, how can I avoid this in the next dog? And, you know, hopefully learning from our mistake. So I think that's a lot of it is, it was a, it's a kind of a giant compilation of learning from our mistakes and then trying to do better and prevent those mistakes from happening again.
Speaker 2 00:19:38 Yeah. Cause you know, I think a lot of people who become first time pet parents or pet owners, um, you know, like you said, they're accidental pet owners sometimes, or like, they're cute and fuzzy, but they were not prepared for the responsibility or the expectations were not met. You know, they, they had an idealistic idea of what it meant to be a pet owner, you know, like fluffy dog. You watch the movies and you think Laie, that's it, you know? And, um, unfortunately reality is that, um, crap craps, literally, you know, crap happens and what are you gonna do with that crap? And how you gonna manage that crap literally as well, You know? So like for me, uh, my very first pet that I adopted as a consenting adult was a cat. And I even, you know, I didn't even really think I wanted her, but she just came into my life as a kitten.
Speaker 2 00:20:38 And the first thing was that she was injured. And I was like, Oh shit, you know, she's injured. And I didn't even like, Oh, just let me, I've gotta go to a vet and what the hell am we supposed to do? You know? But, uh, went to the vet and the vet said, Okay, we did a skin culture to figure out what's wrong with the, the leg. And it's like, okay, go back. Here's the medication. Come back in like, you know, 10 days or something. And I'm like, Huh, <laugh>, you know what, what? Um, I thought I was just doing a quick Samaritan kind of thing, like, pick up, Nah, you know, here you go. But the vet said, No, here you go back, you know, you're not dumping the animal on me. Take it back. I'm like, you know. Um, so I, I honestly became an accidental pet owner, um, quite reluctantly at first.
Speaker 2 00:21:26 Um, but when I realized that I wanted to adopt her, um, I did think in my very naive hit at that time that the vet knew everything, you know, and that I could trust the vet 100% to give me the, the best, the correct advice possible because I didn't know better, honestly. So, you know, my vet, and I'm not saying anything bad about my, my first vet, because I think she represents all vets in general. They, they become a vet because they love animals, you know, and they're doing their best. But she's a conventionally trained vet, you know, and from her perspective, annual vaccinations was the way to go. So I vaccinated my first cat for the first five years of her life and, you know, I started her with um, you know, prescription diet, processed food, dry food, and she started having like problems, health issues and vomiting.
Speaker 2 00:22:28 And then, but ve said, Well, maybe let's try wet and maybe not seafood, maybe, you know, trying to like filter things out, um, from the conventional way of doing things. Um, so for many, many years, um, she was on, we tried all sorts of wet can food cuz we tried to really get her off the drive. And I tell you, I was a 24 7 dry buffet supplier, you know? Oh yeah. That, I mean, like, I didn't know better really, You know, I thought, and you know, the cat just, the kitchen just kept making so much noise and I said, you know, bed, you know, here's the leave me alone, you know, <laugh>, I'm can, Yes. I need to sleep, you know, can't do everything with you. Yeah. That's the story for millions of peppers out there. Millions. Yeah. So the same thing. Yeah. So I did, you know, when I look back now, the number one thing I did was I put out a dish 24 7 of dry food for my, for my cat, you know, And, and she, and she ate like that and she got addicted to it.
Speaker 2 00:23:36 But when I realized that I had to switch her, switch it out, it was a struggle. It was a real struggle cuz she was a kind cry addict at that point in time, you know, and, and trying to, to get her to suddenly I was like reading her like, Oh, what time meals? What the hell is that? Oh, okay, uh, alright, let's try it. And it was very painful to transition because she ate whenever she wanted and, you know, Yeah. So I, I did everything I would say, um, you shouldn't really in the beginning as a pet owner. Um, and, and one thing I wanna share with all new pet owners today is that it's okay, Whatever you're doing is really, it's not your fault cuz you just don't know better. We all start with zero knowledge and you know, like monkey see, monkey do as children, you know, you, you don't know, you just follow whatever that's around you, you know? And until you, you find an alternative answer like what Sha was saying, like something goes wrong and you're trying to figure it out. You know, if, if one way, two ways is not working, you sort of dig around and ask around to find for an alternative answer. And that's how you become a better pet owner as well. So really the Forever Dog book is like, it's like a collection of fuck ups
Speaker 1 00:24:58 <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:24:59 Because we know better.
Speaker 1 00:25:01 Yeah, we know better. Yeah, it definitely is. I, and I believe they said that they're like, this is what we learn from, from our experience so that it hopefully does not get repeated down the line. And you, the book can arm a lot of pet parents and, and pet oors pet guardians with this information like this, this is what we did, this is what we screwed up on and this is how you can try to prevent it <laugh> and have not go through so much agony that, you know, earlier pet owners went through and get your pet to live longer and not have so much disease and you know, destruction over the course of the life.
Speaker 2 00:25:36 Yeah, Yeah. So one of the things that I try very hard and it's, it's difficult because cuz as we, I saw knowledge improve, we sometimes forget where we started. Sometimes, you know, there's a big jump in in what we know and someone's like, my ego gets a bit big and I'm like, Oh no, you should do this, do this, do this. And then I I'll always forget that, you know, like, hey, when I started out as a pet parent, I really didn't know better and suddenly you're coming with me with all this information and it's like a huge overwhelm. And then some, some people just get really like, scared, you know, uh, by all this information. But this book, which I love, is that they, they have done their best to break it down into, I think as bite size as possible. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative> in terms of, you know, the, the the theme of the Forever dog.
Speaker 2 00:26:29 Like what are the main, um, factors or conditions you should look out for, you know? Yeah. And it's not just, it's not just about, it's not just about food The Forever Dog. I mean like a lot of us in the fresh feeding community, we always obsess about, you know, what you're feeding and stuff. But to be honest, that's only a small fra. There's only like a part of your animal's life, just like you as a human being. You're only eating just for a couple of hours a day. You know, the rest of your, your your waking moment, um, that affects your health
Speaker 1 00:27:06 For sure. You know, a hundred
Speaker 2 00:27:08 Percent. You know, and that applies to your pets as well. Um, you know, that, that's my, my my kind of takeaway as a student, you know, of the Forever Dog, you know? And, and the thing is, um, it's so, so be gentle on yourself as you go through this book cuz you, you know, especially if you're a first timer, a lot of these concepts might be very new to you. And then you're going to start feeling a bit guilty. Cuz I think it's normal because we're all human. We feel guilty, like, oh my God, you know, this is what I've been feeding, we're all doing to my animals and I didn't know it. But once you know better, you'll do better.
Speaker 1 00:27:44 Exactly. Exactly. I think we've all been through those moments. I, I certainly have, I remember I look back from what I was learning through the course of owning my Bernese, um, at the end of his life and then still learning after his life passed what I did wrong with him in certain aspects. And then what I did wrong with my golden retriever before that. And you, you, you learn these bits of information and you're like, Oh dear <laugh>, I could have done that, done that a lot better, but that's all I knew at the time. I knew I wanted to know more. But the information that was successful at the time was not in this book for, had I had this book, you know, back in, oh gosh, 2002, you know, or 2008, I've been a lot better prepared. So I'm, I'm happy that it exists to give people the information to kind of avoid a lot of the mistakes.
Speaker 1 00:28:37 And yet you might feel guilty for, for what you're doing. It might point out some things, but in a way it's, it's, it addresses those, I guess, I don't wanna say flaws, but just those things that we were not aware of. You can have those light bulb moments to say, Hey, this is what I could be doing better. And some of them might work well, um, in the course of, you know, your day or your week or your, or your life or how you function. But there's a lot of easy tips that can be applied, um, really, really simple. That's what I try to stress a lot too, is even though the information may seem overwhelming at first, a lot of the tips are super simple, super, super easy. So even if you might realize that you could be doing a little bit better, there's, they're easy fixes, really, really easy fixes to apply.
Speaker 2 00:29:25 Yeah. So, you know, so like chapter one, um, Sick as a dog, you know, the, um, taglines, like why we and our companions are losing a longevity. Um, it's, it's a, it's a short chapter. It's really, you know, uh, um, sharing their origin story in a way. But also I would say, you know, um, why, why are our dogs not as healthy as they were? I don't know, in our grandparents days. I don't know. You know, um, I dunno about you, but you know, like when I talked to like my senior citizens in my neighborhood, right? It was like, yeah, you know, I never had to bring my dog to the vet. My dog ran around and, you know, ate whatever, what, you know, all this like commercial pet food kind of thing, you know, they never had it. The dog ate whatever the humans ate or they hunted or killed, whatever, you know. Um, so it's like, why, why is modern, why are dogs today seem to be a lot sicker than say even like 50, 50, 70 years ago?
Speaker 1 00:30:45 Yeah, for sure. And it goes into talking about how we've, we've evolved with dogs and how they came into coexisting with humans, you know, 30 to like 150,000 years ago. They go into all that in the back history of how we've been able to co-evolve with them. But yeah. Why, why have our companions gotten such shorter lives? You know, Why is the golden retriever who used to live, I think it was what, like 16, 17 years old? And then why are they only living till like 9, 10, 11, 12, if you're lucky? Yeah. You know, what is a common denominator? And you can't always totally pin it just on one thing. Cause it's a lot of factors that are out there. You know, food is definitely, um, important, but there's a lot of environmental factors out there. So a lot of life has changed to shorten the lives of our pets. And, you know, trying to figure out and put all that information together to see what can we do better
Speaker 2 00:31:43 Yeah. To get the
Speaker 1 00:31:44 Extreme life out of those animals so they're not suffering from so many issues of, of what's changed.
Speaker 2 00:31:50 Yeah. I mean like one, one of the things I I, I like, um, is to quote like, you know, um, having your, your health span equal your lifespan.
Speaker 1 00:32:01 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 2 00:32:02 You know, so, you know, it's like the same with humans. It's like, yeah, you know, yeah, we can live long, but are you living a healthy lifespan? You know, you can eat junk food, you can eat McDonald's and, and I don't know KFC every day that's not, and I've done it before when I was younger. Honestly, budget and everything.
Speaker 1 00:32:24 I'm guilty of that too, you
Speaker 2 00:32:26 Know, I, I've done it, you know, when you're working late and whatever, you just grab whatever that's available. Um, but I realized, um, because I abused my health because know I was a workaholic and I just disrespected my body. I was a smoker. I used to drink a lot, so, and I used to have like, you know, really like crazy hours and stuff and all these factors. It's not just the food really impacted my health, you know? Um, I had a lot of gynecological issues as well and I actually realized that, hey, what's ever happening to me, it can actually be a parallel to what's happening to say your pet because your pet is living in the same environment as you, you know? And I think, um, modern day society, we are all living in a pretty urban environment now. I mean, like, I live in Singapore where, you know, we, we live in the high rise apartments kind of thing. And so my dog doesn't have a backyard even, you know, it's a concrete jungle I live in. So the only time she gets to go down is when I bring her down specifically for walks and pee walks and stuff like that, you know? So, um, her activity time is really based on how often I'm willing to bring her down.
Speaker 1 00:33:47 Yeah. You know, and that, that's a very good topic cuz they do get into exercise and they get into like the, the how our lives para can parallel and they pick up on that. So on, on the topic of like taking the time to get your dog out and get exercise and whether those people who live, you know, on, in rural areas, on farms, people who live in neighborhoods, people who live in high rises like you do. Um, I was talking about that with a friend of mine the other day. There are people that are just live in high rise apartments. It's like your dog, unless you have like that, you know, a narrow little green space in your downtown area to have like a little dog run. You know, where can they go to have access to grass to have access to the environment? And in those kind of more, um, concrete, concrete jungles as you put it. Um, you know, are they exposed to more environmental factors than they would be on a farm or in a neighborhood that has chemically treated lawns? You know, you can still have a lot of toxic areas with chemically treated, you know, the beautiful lawns in the neighborhoods as opposed to, you know, being on concrete and not getting access to grass or maybe, you know, anything that was sprayed around the, you know, decorative trees in your neighborhood too, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:35:05 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:35:05 And at the same time, you know, the exercise factor is gonna be completely different for someone in your living situation compared to someone in a neighborhood compared to someone on a farm. You know, you have a farm dog, they can go out and kind of have the run of the land and you know, those in apartments, they have to take the time and find the time in their day, however busy their schedule is to take the dog out, get 'em on a walk, get 'em outside, get some sunshine, get some fresh air, you know, sniff around. There's a lot of factors, you know, and that all plays into, if you've got a busy schedule and you're stressed out, you have to get up, go to work, you know, come back home. If you had a crazy day, your dog can pick up on that stress and now you've gotta drop what you're doing. You know, take him back down to the bottom floor, get him outside, get him on his walk, You know, it's a lot to, to factor in. And then you're expected to be a happy, normal functioning person and your dog is expected to be a happy, functioning, functioning normal dog. You know, when you repeat that cycle over and over again, it's like, how does that affect them? It's, yeah, it's a lot to take in lot to think about.
Speaker 2 00:36:08 Yeah. So one thing I love when, um, cuz they also mentioned the Blue Zones in the book and the Blue Zones is really, um, you know, for those who don't know, it's basically, um, this dude, he was doing something for National Geographic and he basically like, you know, noticed that there were certain, um, populations around the world that the elderly didn't seem to die off that easily, basically, you know, and not only did they not die off so easily, they were actually pretty active and flexible compared to say even myself right now. You know, kind of, kind of thing. Um, so it really is, you know, um, looking at your lifestyle at the end of the day, um, because don't forget whatever your dog's going through, it is a, a mirror reflection on what you are going through in life. You know, um, that, that to me was a big, big aha moment. Like in, in my journey was like, you know, um, if I wanna improve the quality of health for my animals, I really have to start doing some self care for myself. You know, so that was, um, so reading this book became a lot easier as well cuz when you understand that that correlation that link, it, it becomes a lot easier, you know?
Speaker 1 00:37:35 For sure. For sure. They definitely mentioned that, um, early on in the book about taking care of yourself is one of the best things you can do to kind of keep yourself, um, as low as low stress as you can, you know, And, and that will equate to, you know, kind of keeping everybody in the household calm as well. And also, I know it talks about when even if you've had a stressful day at work and you come home and you walk in the door and you think you're good and you're just like, All right, I'm over it. But there's, there's studies, um, I know Rodney talks about this quite a bit in his lectures is you can just, the sweat you release from, you know, you, you might have a stressful moment, you get hot, you don't realize you're releasing these stressed hormones and these scents coming out of our glands, you know, you think you're good, you might have an argument or a bad day early on, you get home and your dog can smell that and your dog will kind of just kind of pick up the, the vibe of the room and um, the smells you're giving off.
Speaker 1 00:38:34 And they can, they're taking that information and they relay that and they can pick up your stress just as well. Yeah. That's why it's so important to do whatever we can to mitigate that.
Speaker 2 00:38:45 So for, for the, you know, for the integrative holistic alternative side of, um, you know, health for both humans and animals, You know, we talk about energetic sometimes, so it might sound a bit woo to a lot of people, like, oh, that negative energy. But there's a key, a scientific basis behind that, that it is the, the, the sweat, the when your stressed you do your cortisol levels go up, you know, your stress hormones go up and you actually emit a sudden smell a sense coming out of your skin. You don't know it, but your animals can smell it. Like dogs and cats and birds, I mean like really animals are like so blessed because they don't have this ego thing like humans where, you know, we filter too much, we think too much of our left brain, right brain kind of thing. But they just, they're so natural and they can sense it and it affects them because then they can feel like, Oh my God, you're coming home, you're really angry. Why are you so angry? You know, why are you so pissed off? Not, and you might not think that you were that pissed off. It's just that you just had a shitty day at work, you know? And, and you bring home that crap, you know? And in the book, uh, one, one, um, scientist actually did say like, have, go have a shower straight away, change your clothes, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:39:59 Yeah. For sure.
Speaker 2 00:40:01 And actually I do do that, um, from a, cuz I do, um, rescue work, you know, with, you know, cats and I do trap return, I sterilize and whatnot. But you know, we, we, we handle outside cats. We feed the cats outside. So when we come back and I just don't wanna pass anything on me cuz I've touched the animals to the ones at home. I go home, I actually change my clothes, I dump it into washing and then I have a shower, you know? And one of the basic things that I do is I actually wash my feet when I come home. Um, I think it's an Asian thing. Uh, cuz Asians, we don't actually like to bring our shoes into the house, right? Because I know like a lot of western people, they wear their shoes in the house, even in a bedroom, you know, kind of thing.
Speaker 2 00:40:49 Um, but for Asians in general, we like to keep our shoes outside or in a separate area cuz we don't wanna bring in, um, the germs or whatever, or Oh yeah. It scientific vix you know, from the chemical grass and all that, you know, the lawns and stuff, we don't like to bring it in. And even for my dog, even when she was a puppy and I didn't know better than it was like a cultural thing for me. It's like, okay, dog comes in with me, we'll whole her down with just water wash her, her paws, her butt cuz she peed and poop, right. And wash her undercarriages. I like to call it, you know, the car. Um, but her undercarriage kind of thing. Um, and dry her off. And that was the most basic thing that, you know, we do every day when we come back.
Speaker 2 00:41:36 And I didn't even know then that oh, that was a good thing because now that we know better with the al and they talk about, you know, the toxins outside, you know, and you know, um, maybe in a rural environment you don't have that so much. But because I live in a very urban city, so, you know, we have car I love car pollution. We've got, um, I live in Singapore, so it's tropical, you know, it's a humid country. So we do get mosquito breeding, dengue fever, you know, it, it is a, it is a, it is a concern all year round mosquitoes. So, um, there's fuel mitigation going on, like on a schedule by the town council, you know, whatever they do to keep their state. So can you imagine they, they, they spray some chemicals in the drains or on the grass to kill off whatever eggs, you know, the mosquito eggs and stuff on the lobby. And, and then you have people who are like in my estate, because I, I live in, um, high rise buildings in my estate. So the town council, like once a month they will and I've, they will scatter bleach on the floor.
Speaker 1 00:42:49 Hmm.
Speaker 2 00:42:49 You know, because they are preparing to wash the floor with bleach. So they use like a jet spray and they go sh everywhere Yeah. To, to clean the estate. Right. Because that is the easiest way. But the bleach sometimes is on the floor for a couple of days before the cleaners get to spray. So it's not done immediately, you know, it's like, okay, let's prep for the work. So they put ve everywhere, you know, on walkways and stuff. So it's like your dogs, your cats, um, the community cats, they walk on it so we can tell when they get a bit sick, you know, so we actually give them milk this nice Yeah. You know, in their food. Um, for my dog as well. Um, she gets dandelion in her food. Um, you know, and, and that's the thing, like when you live in a city environment, there's a lot of crap. Not just talking about chewing gum or you know, um, spit on the floor, urine on the floor. But, um, there are toxins everywhere you go, um, outside. And we are outside a lot of the time. So we will actually have all that stuff on us as well, you know, So Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:44:03 It, it, yeah, that's a very important thing. I was, um, I believe it is in the first chapter where they talk about, you know, having, having an area that's too clean that we, we grew up thinking that clean is great and clean is good, and to a point it is. But being too clean can almost be too toxic because Correct. The chemicals you're using to clean with sometimes are always the safest things. You know, they're walking on these chemicals, whether it be grass or on a floor that's just been, you know, treated with whatever they're absorbing that through their feet. And if you're not giving up a paw wash before you come in, they're gonna come in. They might be licking their, if you got a dog that's a heavy poller, even if it's not, you know, consistent, they still, you know, will, what's that smell on my foot now? You know, and they might lick it off. They're gonna get that in their body. Um, there's been study to show that too, that they can, that dogs and cats have been tested to find all these chemicals that are in their blood and their urine samples because they're just toxins that they're casually ingesting and coming into contact with. Cause we're not thinking about, you know, they don't get a bath every day. Like,
Speaker 2 00:45:03 I know, and it's carcinogenic. That's the thing, isn't it? And what they have, we are getting it too, you know? And, and I think that is a very good thing you brought up because it's like, especially with Covid, people just got really obsessed in the last couple of years about germs. You know, I have, I, I do have friends who are germophobic to an extreme where, you know, they, they're constantly cleaning everything and I'm like, Whoa. It's like, yeah, you wanna be clean, but you don't wanna be that clean, especially if you're using chemicals to clean. Um, you know, and, and they, they something like the smell of detol, I don't know what's de pine maybe, I think that's the version you have in, in the US probably. Um, but like, or laundry detergent, you know, the stronger they can smell that bleachy or chlorine or, or whatever, Clorox or whatever they, they think it's a clean that means it's, it's a clean, safe environment, but they don't know it's the offgassing as well that's gonna kill you, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:46:13 Yeah. I will tell you a side story real quick. When I worked with birds years ago, we would use bleach to clean the bird rooms because you had, we had bird feces, you know, on the rubber mats that all their trees were above. So we had to go through every day and clean them twice a day. And I, I knew the smell of bleach very well. I have burned my nose hairs very well, <laugh>, and you're just like, Oh, it smells so strong. It's doing its job, not realizing that you're inhaling that. And then, you know, a little while later we, we throw bleach on there, we try to, you know, rinse it off as best we could, but then, you know, those animals, they're playing in it and you think nothing of it because we're told we have to clean because to a point we do need to be clean. But yeah, you can totally be over clean.
Speaker 2 00:46:56 Yeah. And I, I think, um, one of the things that, you know, um, I took away was that, um, do try and find greener cleaner, um, in chem, um, greener non-toxic, um, cleaning products, you know, um, that would help, you know, uh, to improve the situation because you, we have to remember that our animals are not wearing clothes or shoes like, like us. And I mean, like birds especially, they're so small. So can you imagine what what we think is just a smell will be like a lot stronger for them and it will Oh
Speaker 1 00:47:38 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:47:39 And it, it will literally kill them, you know?
Speaker 1 00:47:43 So And you think dogs, dogs can smell their receptors are what, 10,000 times stronger than ours? I believe it is. It's, it's, it's a super, you know, they've got super smeller noses way better than we can. So if our cleaner smells strong to us, it's definitely stronger our dogs and cats.
Speaker 2 00:47:57 Yeah. And, and cats they love, I mean like us any cat or they like to lie in our laundry basket or, you know, the wardrobe with all the clothes. And so can't imagine like if you're using really strong laundry detergent and then the fabric softeners and you know, whatever they, they're actually absorbing it, um, into their, into their body, into their bloodstream, you know, just by being there. So yeah, it was, yeah, it, it was like, uh, a lot of light bulb moments for me, you know, in my journey. But yeah, so I don't know, Stress, stress can kill you, So, and it can kill the dog. It can kill the animals too. So
Speaker 1 00:48:43 One other topic I think is good early on in the book is about the fact that changing gears a little bit is dogs do not have a carbohydrate requirement. A lot of people don't realize that, and it's not something we think about. And I love this sentence here. It says, dogs do not have a carbohydrate requirement. And the average bag of grain based food is often more than 50% carbs, largely from insulin raising corn, a potatoes, and a lot of conventional pet food has corn listed as a first ingredient or very early on in the ingredient panel. So not only do a lot of newer pet parents may not know to read the ingredient labels, they don't realize how much carbs are in the, um, in the food, what causes it. Um, and how the obesity epidemic is happening for a lot of our pets.
Speaker 1 00:49:33 So not only are we kind of toxifying them with chemicals, we're also adding to their metabolic health rate by not understanding what is kind of what their body requires. And I think that's the hard part to kind of come to a little bit of a, a learning moment of is when you get these animals, is how do you take care of 'em kind of peacefully and smoothly, keeping them as healthy as possible, and then also coming like a part-time nutritionist at the same time when you're not prepared to become a part-time nutritionist. You know? And just learning these little, But then I love these little nuggets of information. You know, when I, when I learned that that dogs really shouldn't be eating as many carbs, Carbs are good, they do have their place, but they shouldn't be ingesting, you know, 50, 60, 70% carbs of their diet. And that is also equating to a shorter
Speaker 2 00:50:27 Lifespan, especially ultra process carbohydrates. You know, that, that, that was like a huge, um, learning curve for me. Um, and I think that's where a lot of pet parents start to get a bit of jiggly is the diet part. You know, cuz they're like, What? We can't feed dry food, you know, <laugh>, but dry food is unfortunately, um, the cheapest food on the market. Well, I mean, it's expensive dry food, but I would say from, um, beginner pet parent is say you're starting out, um, and you know, you are on a tight budget. Um, and I'm, I'm also, you know, I i I, I was like one of those pet parents before is that, you know, oh, what's a cheap good food that I can feed? And that made me a good pet parent, but you know, it's within my budget. You know, so dry food, there is, um, no nice way to say this, but there's no such thing as a really good dry food <laugh>. I dunno, I dunno. Um, I think now the market, they, they, they're making some less ultra processed dry food, right?
Speaker 1 00:51:38 Yes. There's there's more things that have come out that are not as offensive as older products have been. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:51:46 Yeah. But, um, yeah, they
Speaker 1 00:51:49 Still have some, they have some room to grow. Um, but yeah, they're not, they're not as,
Speaker 2 00:51:54 Yeah, I
Speaker 1 00:51:55 Think what worse offenders are
Speaker 2 00:51:57 1, 1, 1 thing as a pet parent and because I, I do have a lot of sick animals in my volunteer work, plus as a pet owner, like, well I, I screwed up as a pet parent was that, um, the pet foot industry is, um, a very dark place to go. It's a deep, deep hole when you start trying to peel the layers and understand what's going on because, um, and I think one of the best websites that helped me was, um, Susan Fix's website, The Truth About Pet Food. It's a really good website where she, she does write a lot of articles to try and educate and highlight the, the FU station, you know, where they, they hide a lot of things with a lot of jargons because one thing I really didn't know, cuz you know, as a parent, you, when you walk down the aisle, you, what attracts you is a human being. It's a nice pictures mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 1 00:52:52 The, the colors and like the, the rainbow effect you get walking down, it's like, oh, it's so pretty.
Speaker 2 00:52:57 Yeah. And, and you know, when you see a dog food or cat food and there's a stick there or a nice roast chicken and a carrot and you know, they say, Oh yeah, you know that, that, yeah, I eat that so that'll be good for, for my animal. You know, you're sort of thinking that that's the kind of of quality food that you're feeding your animals. Um, but I, and I never really looked at the ingredients because number one, the back of the, of the bag is usually really like small word print and the order you are, I, younger people have better eyesight because you don't have that thing as you grow older. But I need reading glasses, uh, now and tiny print doesn't work for me anymore, you know, But if when I started to look at the ingredients, I, I realized I did not understand any word of it, you know? Um, Yeah. And
Speaker 1 00:53:52 Yeah, or even if you think, you know, even if like, even if they say, if you can't pronounce the words they say to avoid that, but even if they are pronounceable words, I remember looking at ingredient panels early on. I'm just like, okay, there's, you know, there's parents in here, there's chicken in here. I knew about byproducts kind of early on and kind to avoid those, you know, I was like, Oh, there's corn. I didn't really know how good or bad corn was, or soy or whatever. And then you see down towards the bottom like, oh, there's apples or blueberries, or you know whatever is on the front of the packaging, but it's on the bottom of the list. And until you learn how the order of the list goes, which I love that Susan talks about quite a bit. Um, and Karen and Rodney talk about as well, they call it the salt divider. Anything after the salts listed in the ingredient panel, there's usually minuscule amounts of it. So you might get those pretty blueberries and, um, carrots and corn and green beans on the front of the package, but there's not a whole lot
Speaker 2 00:54:49 What's
Speaker 1 00:54:49 Actually in the food. So you can, there's different stages of understanding that ingredient label and understanding the packaging. And that's, Yeah. That's a complete rabbit hole to go down into. And I think
Speaker 2 00:54:59 That that's a whole course on its own. But the one thing about the salt divider thing that Rodney and Susan, I mean like they, they brought up is that salt is usually about maybe 1% of the whole, um, volume of ingredients. Right. It's like maybe 1%. So anything below salt is gonna be less than one percent-ish.
Speaker 1 00:55:24 You know, that was a big light bulb moment for me. I remember watching the video, uh, I talked that he did about that several years back, and I was like, What, what is this sorcery going on? So yeah, that was, like I said, you can think, you know, ingredient panels or you might hear about reading and reading panels and you, and you think you know what's going on. But until you kind of really get down in that worm hole, it's a, it's a whole nother ballgame when you realize what is actually
Speaker 2 00:55:47 Yeah. In and, and even how
Speaker 1 00:55:49 Many times as in the,
Speaker 2 00:55:50 Even the terminology for ingredients used in marketing on the bag, what it means in our Oxford dictionary is what we think it should mean does not actually, that doesn't equal to the meaning of how they printed it on the back based on, well, in the US it's afco, um, the, uh, what
Speaker 1 00:56:16 American, it's NRC as well. Yeah. And then there's I think wasa.
Speaker 2 00:56:20 Yeah. But you know, all these, um, so-called, uh, pet food regulation, um, people, whichever country you're in. Um, but most of the time we usually follow Afco, A A F C O, uh, cuz it's the us. Um, but like there's a dictionary, there is a terminology there that it doesn't mean the same thing in our Oxford dictionary mm-hmm. <affirmative> or, you know, your McMillan dictionary in the us I dunno what dictionary you use, but all Cambridge, Oxford, you know, for the rest of the Commonwealth <laugh>, you know. Um, but yeah, so when you hear like bone meal or chicken, you know, um, things that, even the word natural on the bag doesn't actually mean natural as our human dictionary, meaning is, you know. Yeah. So it's, it's, um, that is like one whole cool, um, deep dive, you know, that maybe one day we'll do. Uh, but yeah, so these are things, you know, as we, as we learn as a pet parent and the carbohydrate thing that really like, um, started me going like, Whoa, you know, like so many things I did not realize, you know? But actually going back again is actually pretty simple. If you eat fresh food, you know, you feed fresh, then you won't really have so much of this, um, commercial confusion in the, in the pet football.
Speaker 1 00:57:52 Yeah. And even so as, as they stated in the book, replacing as little as 10% of your dog's daily processed pet food can create a positive changes in the dog's body. So even if you aren't sure, you know, we're, uh, totally dived into ingredient labeling and what everything means. Even if you are feeding, uh, processed pet food 10%, just add in some blueberries, add in some leafy greens, you know, that little piece of apple that you're just not feeling it, You know, you got one apple that you know is not totally rotten, but is still edible. Yeah. Give it to the dog. You got some B blueberries left over. Give it to the dog. You got a little bit of broccoli leftover. Give it to the dog. You know, you got some green beans left over, you know, unflavored unseasoned and all that stuff. You know, you can add a few little things just to kind of help mitigate, you know, what is in that commercially processed pet food.
Speaker 2 00:58:43 Yeah. I would say table healthy, like table scraps, um, that is, I would say not cooked fats, but there's a different story there. But, um, but just vegetables. I mean, like, I've given my dog like parts of my salad stuff that is a bit with it and stuff, you know, like I, I'll give it to her in her food, You know, I, I might blend it or whatever depends. But, you know, um, that, that 10, 20% increase of fresh vegetables, fruits, and ve makes a huge difference to your processed diet. Oh, yeah. For your dog. Yeah. And
Speaker 1 00:59:20 Those nutrients are still live and processed pet food. It's, I think it's later on in the book where they talk about how much, how many times it's cooked, and those nutrients are not live anymore. So if you're adding real live, like a carrot you got from the grocery store a couple days ago, you know, a blueberry, you just got, you know, maybe some strawberries you just got, that's still live food that has more nutrients in it than a little burnt brown piece of kibble.
Speaker 2 00:59:46 <laugh>. Yeah. And, and I was like, um, explained to like pepper parents, like, you know, thing of a bag of kibble, like eating a box of conflicts, you know, for humans, um, they'll tell you that it's fortified with vitamins and minerals for your Kellogg special K or whatever, or Captain Crunch. Um, but the thing is, if you ask yourself this question, it's like, can, should I be eating this 24 7 every single time? You know? Yeah.
Speaker 1 01:00:14 How would you feel if you got presented a bowl of the same bowl of cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Speaker 2 01:00:22 Every single day? Yeah. Yeah. I
Speaker 1 01:00:24 Mean, regardless of it, it has all the nutrients in it to, to suffice your body to survive, you know, we're able to voice our opinion. That's another good, um, kind of topic they touch on as well, is we don't give our animals a whole lot of choice in some regards, especially when it comes to food, you know? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if I, if I was your caretaker, and I said, whether you like it or not, you know, even though you can, you can tell me as a human what you like and what you don't like. Our dogs and cats can't, you know, you say, Here's a bowl of cereal, here's a bowl of cereal, here's a bowl of cereal. And at some point, you know, some dogs should be like, uhuh, they back away. They're not touching it, but a lot of times they're happy to eat because it's food. You're starving, you're gonna eat
Speaker 2 01:01:03 It. I know. But
Speaker 1 01:01:04 Yeah, it's crazy
Speaker 2 01:01:05 To think of. It's, it's funny because once I started feeding fresh, my dog doesn't have a problem with, she's not fussy with food, honestly. She enjoys her meal. She, she waxs it down so fast. I sing like, I'm like, Oh, I need to slow her down, You know? But, but I have like dog owners who come to me and, you know, they say like, my dog's very fussy. It takes like more than half an hour for them to eat a bowl of dry food, you know? And, you know, and it's like, yeah, exactly what you said. If you keep giving a bowl of conflicts, how often do you want a bowl of conflicts? You know? Yeah. So it's, it's something to think about, I think as a takeaway is like your, your, your human doctor or gp, uh, would actually always advise you to try and eat fresher, eat the colors of the rainbow, eat less processed food. But in the pet food wall, we don't get that, that sage advice, you know? And it's the complete opposite direction where they're telling you to keep eating that bowl of conflicts. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, you
Speaker 1 01:02:16 Know, and even though our, our animals are a priority in our lives, we want to make them a priority because we love them dearly, and they're, they're members of our family. Sometimes, um, what we feed them doesn't register as a priority when you're, when you're starting out, like I said, like we, or like we both mentioned early on, it's just like, you, you get that dog because you want a companion. They were adorable. Either you, you got 'em on purpose, or you ended up with them accidentally, and now they're yours, <laugh>, you know, you do wanna do what's best and you just want a happy, happy animal. But, um, because we're not all nutritionally trained in what to look out for, when you get that nice little fluffy bundle of joy, and whether it's a brand new puppy, a brand new kitten, or you know, adopted older dog, and you're just starting out, it, uh, it, it's, it's kind of little light bulb moments to realize what is a priority, to keep them happy and healthy and living longer.
Speaker 2 01:03:14 Yeah. So I, I would say, like, for me, takeaways, like really, like there are many factors towards improving your animal's health. You know, there's the environmental, there's the food, you know, the stress. Um, and what's the big, big word that I learned? Epigenetics, you know, like the triggers. Um, and it, I mean, like, if you are in the human world, we, you might have heard it fly for cancer and stuff, epigenetics, um, you know, your gene expression. So like, you know, you by, by improving the environment around with all these little factors, you, you will improve your, your dog's health, chances of a better health. You know, same with the humans as well, you know, Um, that's why I like, I, I actually see so much correlation similarities between when this, what this book talks about in terms of health, longevity, you know, you can really apply it to yourself. And it's thanks to my animals that I started to become more aware of all these things, you know? Um, and really, like, I, I love The Forever Dog because it really like brings all these, um, thoughts onto, you know, one book for people who are, um, not so keen on digital stuff, online stuff. You can bring this, there's a power outage. You can still read this book, you know, offline, you know, nothing to do. Read the book. So, yeah. So this is, yeah, this was like, wow. We've talked for what, almost an hour
Speaker 1 01:04:56 Yes.
Speaker 2 01:04:56 On, on this. But yeah, so I, yeah. So I hope, you know, um, you guys enjoyed this, um, first episode, you know, uh, uh, for us to start sharing our thoughts on this book, man. Um, we can do a lot more, but I think it's quite late for Sha as well. What time is it over there for you?
Speaker 1 01:05:19 Uh, it's 11 o'clock, so I'm so awake though.
Speaker 2 01:05:21 <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, the girl has to go to work, <laugh>. Yeah. So I, I really wanna thank Shana, uh, for sticking out with me and humoring me with this, this, uh, project, uh, you know, to, to help me with this project. Cuz like I said, don't you think she's got an amazing brain? She's got all this information. So that's what I love about her, you know, So yeah. This is, this is great. Thank you. It's,
Speaker 1 01:05:50 It's been quite enjoyable. Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 01:05:54 Wow. I'm so thankful and grateful that you took the time to listen to this podcast. It would mean the world to me if you could subscribe, download, rate, review and share this with others whom you care about that may enjoy it as well. Thank you. And remember to be kind to yourself and others. Have a awesome day, everyone.
