PET TALK TODAY WITH WILL BANGURA, DOG BEHAVIORIST. #82 Pet CPR, First Aid, Pet Diet and Nutrition. Todays show I interview Stacy De Nooy and Malinda Malone about Pet CPR, Pet First Aid, Pet Diet and Nutrition. The Frontline Coalition
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PET TALK TODAY WITH WILL BANGURA, DOG BEHAVIORIST. #82 Pet CPR, First Aid, Pet Diet and Nutrition. Todays show I interview Stacy De Nooy and Malinda Malone about Pet CPR, Pet First Aid, Pet Diet and Nutrition. The Frontline Coalition
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
Go here for Free Dog Training Articles
Raised by wolves with canine DNA in his blood. Having trained more than 24,000 pets helping you and your fur babies thrive. Live in studio. It's Pet Talk today with Will Bangura answering your pet behavior and training questions. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome your host and favorite pet behavior expert, will Manura.
Speaker 2:Good Saturday morning, everybody. I'm Will Manura and you're watching Pet Pitton today here on Facebook Live. I'm here each and every Saturday morning. I'm not sure where you're watching from. I don't know what your time zone is. Um, we don't change our time in Arizona. We don't spring forward. We don't fall behind. It's always Mountain Standard time. It's a 9:00 AM Mountain Standard time. Do us a favor, hit that like button. Please be generous and share this with your Facebook page so that more people can benefit from, uh, pet Talk today. If you're brand new to Pet Talk today, let me talk a little bit about what we do. Um, a lot of times I'm just answering your questions a lot of time. It's a lot of q and a where you may be experiencing problems with your pet, your dog, your cat. We talk mostly about dogs, but we talk about cats and other pets too. But typically you'll go ahead and type your questions in the comments section, and then I'll look through those and I will answer, uh, your questions. Uh, today we're going to have, uh, two special guests. I've got an interview that we're gonna do today. I've got Melinda Malone and I've got Stacy Deno. We're gonna be talking about, uh, pet first aid, pet C p R, and we're gonna be talking about pet nutrition. Um, but like I said, do us a favor. Hit that like button, hit that share button. I'm not sure if we'll have time for Melinda or for Stacy to answer questions. Um, but I'll let you know as we're going through the interview whether we're gonna do that. Did you have a good New Year? I hope you had a good new year. Uh, did you know that today is National Alaskan Malamute Dog Day? So if you got a Malamute, celebrate today, um, hopefully, you know, we all set, well, not all of us, but New Year's resolutions. And if you've got a dog, I'm gonna challenge you to come up with three New year's resolutions for your dog. Maybe one is brushing your dog's teeth. Yeah, I know, huh? I'm bad with that too. But they need it. They need it to be done right? Maybe it's walking your dog, maybe it's practicing certain training things that you know you should be practicing, but it's inconvenient. Get back to that so that you can enjoy your dog a whole lot more. Get back to that so that your dog can enjoy its life a whole lot more. Um, so we're gonna go ahead and get into, um, our show today. Um, what you see on the screen right now to the left is Stacy Deno. To the right is Melinda Malone. Um, Melinda is a certified master pet tech instructor. She's a certified animal behavior college dog trainer, certified avert instructor, and certified H S I instructor for c CPR and a e d First Aid and BBLs. She went through E M T and E A M T training. She was in law enforcement for 15 years in Southern California. In 1998, she moved to Arizona and became a pet groomer at a local veterinarian's office. Uh, being a groomer in vet office sparked her passion for pet safety. Her main goal in law enforcement was always to serve the people in her community and make a difference in their lives. Well, in 2003, Melinda opened her grooming salon and went on to also offer daycare and boarding. Um, when she began working with animals, her goal was the same, uh, to help pet owners take better care of their pets so that they can live longer and have a better quality life. Um, to the left, the lady you see to the left, that's Stacy Deno and she is a holistic pet wellness practitioner and the owner of BZ Pet Wellness, a holistic pet services provider offering non-invasive pet care modalities. She's a certified canine therapeutic massage therapist and is a certified pet food nutrition specialist, including the raw primo primordial diet. Uh, she's also certified by three, not just one, but three separate companies in pet CPR and first aid techniques, and is a certified pet tech CPR r and first aid instructor. Um, in addition, Stacy's a level one Reiki practitioner working specifically with animals as well as being a KC safe handling certified, uh, beyond being just an instructor. Stacy is also a longtime pet parent whose passion and dedication to her fur babies as led to a career of advocating, uh, for pet safety and wellness. She and her husband Steve, live in Urbandale, Iowa with their 12 year old schnauzer mix. Zeus, welcome to the show ladies. Um, thank you for being here, Stacy, thank you for being here. Melinda,
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having us. Will. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 2:So I took the first aid course in the CPR course that, uh, that you do, Melinda, and I gotta tell you, um, it was an eye-opener. It was unbelievable how much that, um, you don't know once you start getting into it and you get into it because you go through these scenarios, you know, with pets. Um, and boy, those things can happen. They can happen in a heartbeat, and we could lose our pets so quick, uh, to emergencies. So, um, I appreciate the fact that, um, I met you and I got the opportunity to go through that first aid and c p r course. Um, luckily I've not had to use it yet, but boy, I'll tell you in an emergency, I'll be glad that, uh, that I have that. What are some of the things, Melinda, that people, you know, oftentimes I don't know how much in the forefront of pet parents' minds is it that, Hey, I should get C P R and first aid. Um, and why should they think about that? Talk to us a little bit about the importance of PET C P R in first aid and why they should think about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's, that's the thing. We don't think anything's ever gonna happen to our, to our pets, our cats or our dogs. You know, we have a false sense of security thinking, you know, something does happen. Oh, I can take the, take them to the vet. But usually when something happens, something severe happens, it's usually like on a Friday or a Saturday or after nine o'clock at night when the veterinarian offices are not open, just except for the 24 hour, uh, facilities. So, you know, what we teach is being able to stabilize your pets and be able to get a live animal to the veterinary hospital so that the veterinarians can use their tools and everything that they have to be able to, you know, to save them. But if we don't do something at home or out on the streets or wherever we're at with our pets, you know, we can lose them. Just being able to, you know, keep the heart pumping to stop that bleeding, to clear that, um, item in the throat because they're choking. Um, it's, it's vile that pet parents take this because you, you need to know what to do just in case. Cause I always say in our class, you are the pet's first responder. Cause we don't have the nine one system for our pets like we do for people. So we need to be that for them,
Speaker 2:You know? That makes so much sense. Um, and you know, you've been teaching this for a long time, so I'm sure that you've heard lots of stories. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Okay. Um, yes. What are some of the things that you've heard? Give us some examples of situations that people have had to actually, um, use the training.
Speaker 3:Well, a couple of the situations I've had, I've actually had a, uh, a groomer reach out to me that went through my class. And, uh, pat had gone down on her table, heart had stopped beating, and she was able to revive the pet, um, you know, so that dog could go home. She was able to respond very, very quickly. I've had, uh, pet parents had contacted me about their pets that were choking. That's one of the more common incidents that, um, I hear about from people who take the class because, you know, especially with dogs, everything goes the mouth. And, uh, the choking is one of the biggest situations that you're going to run across, especially with a dog. Um, you know, bleeding, incident, seizures, what to do. I mean, I've hear I've heard pretty much everything. And then of course, there's those situations where they do try to do something, try to revive the pet and it, and it doesn't work. But when it doesn't work, at least they knew what to do. So that does help, um, somewhat to be able to have to heal their heart.
Speaker 2:Talk a little bit about, um, what, what do, talk a little bit about what a CPR and first aid course all entails for somebody. First of all, um, how often do you have them? Um, how long are they? And then I'm gonna also have you give, you know, information to people where they can find you, your organization and be able to sign up, uh, for the course.
Speaker 3:Well, we actually have a couple of classes. We have an eight hour class, which covers first aid, cpr, geriatrics, pet care, and, uh, dental care. And then we have a six and a half hour class, which is pet first aid and CPR only. And what they'll learn in the class is, um, how to deal with, um, bleeding incidents if a pet is poisoned, and how to recognize the signs and symptoms, uh, what to do if the pet is choking, if their heart stops beating, how to do cpr, how to do rescue breathing. Um, we go through so many different types of situations and what, like you said, will we also put them through scenarios at the end of the class to see if they could put into action what they learned during the class. So it's, it's a pretty action packed, like, like you went through action packed day. Um, always things going on, you know, just to keep your mind going and, and teaching and so that people can learn. And especially we emphasize the hands on learning, because a lot of people can take these classes online, but it just doesn't work. You have to be physically in the class, putting your hands on the practice. Um, animals that we use, they're stuffed animals and actually practicing and getting the feel, which is so important.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And with, with everything that you have teaching, you know, um, that hands-on, I agree. It, it's so important because I've, you know, I'm always looking at information online. I'm always studying different things, and there's absolutely no way after, you know, going through your course. Um, no way can you do that online. You definitely have to be with that. Right. Yeah. Um, talk about, um, how people, what's the name of your organization? How can people find out about taking a first aid, um, and a PET c p r course? How can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 3:Um, it's called the Frontline Coalition, and we're, uh, based in Phoenix, Arizona. And they, people can go onto our website, the frontline coalition.com. We're also on Facebook, on Instagram, um, and they can go onto their website and see the classes that we have available. Um, I offer classes pretty much a couple of times a month. Uh, I have a class on the 28th of this month. Um, and it's, you know, I also traveled, uh, to different states. I'm gonna California this year in Southern California. I'm going to New Mexico, I'm going to Oklahoma. So I travel also to teach this. Um, and I also teach people to become instructors. That's one of the classes I'm teaching the end of this month. It's a three day class so that they can come and learn the skills to be able to share that with people, pet parents and pet professionals in their community. And I have people coming from all over the United States from for that also.
Speaker 2:And I wanna say to the people that, um, I, gosh, I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here. Hopefully nothing changed, but, uh, if, if it did, I apologize. One of the things I loved about it that I didn't find out about the course until the end, um, because, you know, your certification only lasts. So how long does certification last when somebody gets certified
Speaker 3:Once they go through the class? Uh, the certification is good for two years. Uh, but I also recommend to, especially the pet professionals, that they can come and take it, at least take it once a year or every six months. Because in our, when we're working and dealing with animals all day long, you just never know when something's gonna happen. And the possibility of something happen is even greater, um, because you're working with animals all day long. Um, so that's one of the things that I do offer to my students is once you've gone through the class within the next following two years, they can come back and go through the class as many times as they like at no cost, because it is so important, uh, for me, for them to know what to do in case of an emergency.
Speaker 2:And you forget. Let's face it, you know, we're not using this every day. I mean, I've used pet C P R once and I've been working with dogs for over 30 years, you know, but, but you don't, like, like I said earlier, you don't know when you're going to need it. Um, go ahead and give out that information again. What's the web address for the website?
Speaker 3:The website is the frontline coalition.com and we, like I said, we are also on Facebook and on Instagram, and also people can call if they like. And our number is 4 8 6 8 9 2 6 1.
Speaker 2:Go ahead and repeat that number again for us.
Speaker 3:Sure. 4 8 0 6 8 9 1 2 6 1.
Speaker 2:All right. Perfect. Stacy, what about you? What's your input when it, it comes to the CPR r in, in the first aid?
Speaker 4:Uh, well, I guess the first thing I would say is I have Melinda, cause she actually be instructor. I took instructor class
Speaker 2:All,
Speaker 4:So, uh, no<laugh>.
Speaker 2:Well, I know Melinda's a Melinda's a tough act to follow because she answered a lot of the questions. But I did want to, you know, touch base with you about the pet c p R in First Aid because maybe you've got a story or, or maybe you've got, um, something that you think would be really beneficial for our viewers and our listeners to be able to know.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Um, you know, I think one thing that people don't expect when they take, uh, this particular class is people have the idea when they're, they're for hours. Yeah. He talking and that you're just gonna doze off and it's just, you're gonna wake up when it's time to go home. And that is not what these classes do you up, you are moving around. There is something entire time you are in. And think that is the big benefit over taking the online classes. Uh, I, I myself have taken online classes and<laugh>, boy, they're nowhere close to providing the content and the experience that these classes do. And, uh, you know, when you get to practice some of this stuff hands on, um, it really drills it into your brain. And that's the huge benefit, is you retain so much more of this information when you get in there and you're actually doing it. And so, I I personally, for me, I'm a HandsOn learner. I wanna get in there and do it. Sure. And with these in person classes, that's what you're getting to do. And I think that's the big benefit there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, and not to minimize anything that you do there, but ladies and gentlemen, there was coffee and snacks. Coffee and snacks. So I was, I was a, I was a happy camper. Wow. Yeah.<laugh>. So, hey, make it your New Year's resolution. Make it your New Year's resolution that not only are you gonna train your pet and, and make sure that they're healthy and learn pet CPR and first aid, check out the frontline coalition, uh, dot com, and you can get more information about that. All right. I wanna talk about pet nutrition and diet. Okay. Um, you know, there's so much conflicting information out there. If you are looking, uh, to get information about dog food, um, I feel I feel bad for you because there's so much information out there. There's so much conflicting information you don't know, uh, who to believe what to listen to, what is best for your pet. Um, and, and I'm hoping, Stacy, that you're gonna be able to give us some really good information, um, about that. Now, most people, I think, and and you can tell me if I'm wrong, most people probably are feeding kibble. Would you say that's correct, Stacy?
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Which, I mean, it's been around since the, the 18 hundreds, mid 18 hundreds. So yeah, absolutely. That's what most people feed.
Speaker 2:So talk about the history, if you can, um, about commercial pet foods. You know, because a long time ago, you know, dogs, pets, they just got the scraps off the table. There was no commercial, uh, pet foods. Um, I was surprised to hear you say 1800. I was thinking that it was in the forties or fifties.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'll give you a kinda a high level overview. Yeah. I for days about this. So don't let do that. Uh, so most people think or would assume that, uh, you know, it's dog food. It's pet food by somebody that some type background, right? Mm-hmm. Um, um, what be wrong about that? Uh, when pet food was invented, it was back in 1860, and the individual who came up with this idea was an American traveling salesman. Not vet, not a animal professional in any capacity. Uh, this individual, he was a lightning rod salesman, and he was always kinda on idea some this, this guy, he, he made a trip to England, and while he was over in England, he was, um, at a, at a, where all the ships were located. And he noticed there was a lot of stray dogs. And these dogs hung out by all the ships and with all the sailors. And what he learned was these dogs ate the same thing that the sailors ate, which was something called hard attack. Ok? Uh, if you're not familiar with that, uh, it's a of questionable materials, what the sailors ate. It's what, uh, soldiers during wartime would eat. Um, for people my age, Oregon Crail. It's what all your settlers in the Oregon game were eating. It was this chunk of whatever you had, uh, usually grains, uh, that were, uh, baked over a fire full of worms, bugs, all kinds of good stuff. Cause it was cheap and easy to make. So once this, uh, this salesman realized this, the light bulb went off for him, and he thought, man, what a great idea. If we could just have something like this, that everybody's got a dog would buy and feed to their pet. And so that's what he did. He created his own recipe that he would not tell anyone what was in it. And at the time, in England, uh, the AKC was becoming a really, uh, big deal there. So for all of the wealthy families and individuals, uh, it was a status symbol to have these amazing purebred dogs. And he saw an opportunity there. So he started infiltrating this, uh, a group of people and convinced them that, well, if you wanna really feed this dog the right thing, you should be feeding them my biscuits. Cause you know, he had this great sales pitch on nobody else has this, and it's so you don't, you're feeding them anymore. And these people, wow, what great idea, it's just pre-made. I just hand it to them. And obviously, you know, he said that it's perfect for dogs, so why should I not feed it to them? And from there, like wildfire, he brought it home to America. And his marketing was genius. He, uh, marketed as well all of the wealthy families in England, you know, with these purebred dogs. This is what they feed their dogs. So if you wanna feed your dog the best, this is what you should feed them. And from there, uh, the American, uh, public really took hold. It just became incredibly popular and were then purchased by, uh, human production companies. And these companies are the companies we know today, such as Mars, like the candy bars, uh, Colgate, big, huge conglomerate started really getting in on this because they could for a very low cost to them. So that's really where our, our modern day kibble came from.
Speaker 2:You know, some people are concerned about, well, I think more and more people are concerned about ingredients and what is right for your dog, what's not okay for your dog? What, what's in kibble?
Speaker 4:Good question. Uh, I think it depends on, uh, who you asked. Uh, again, high level, uh, basically with, uh, it's, it's really, and again, I don't believe, okay, I just want facts and information, but some of the facts, they're, they're scary, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Uh, things that are used in kibble, um, mainly, uh, you know, different types of grains, uh, and there is meat, obviously, right? We all think, well, animals eat meat. There's gotta be meat in there, technically. Yes. Uh, the scary thing is the pet food industry is not strictly regulated like human food is. So there's no law prohibiting certain items from being put into pet food. So when I say there's not a lot of restrictions, mo almost any part of an animal can be put into our pet food. Okay? We're talking feathers, beaks, the skin poops, intestines. Okay. Like the whole animal can be utilized.
Speaker 2:And do they call that then byproducts?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. That's when we're reading byproduct on a label, boobs and intestines. It's, it's like the hotdog, right?<laugh>
Speaker 2:And, and, uh, talk about, you know, I mean, some people know this, but when you look at the ingredients, what the first ingredients, what it has the most of, right?
Speaker 4:Ideally, yes. And the other thing we wanna keep in mind is labeling is something that also has a lot of loopholes for companies. The truth in labeling is very, very unclear. Uh, so ideally the first ingredient listed would be what is most highly contained? There's a lot of ifs and or buts in that due to loopholes created by legislation. So just cause it says that chicken might be the first ingredient due to some of these loopholes, it could just be cause of water content, right? So it, it can be very misleading. And that I, I don't suggest we always base our decisions on what that first ingredient is cause of this labeling issue.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you a question, because this is, this is something that, and I want an answer to, and I don't know if there is an answer, you know, forever. I've heard grain-free, grain-free grain-free grain-free feed your dog grain-free. Then all of a sudden I'm hearing things about, wait a minute, if you don't feed your dog grains, they're gonna have heart problems. Is there any truth to that? Can you talk about that and, and kind of sort out what's truth and, and what's fiction?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Um, there was a time when there were some to grain free diet, specifically the food that was fed to the dog, uh, caused cardiac issues. And it, it escalated quickly. It really hit the media and, uh, it became all, all the news, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And the FDA did conduct research, and they looked into all these cases that were reported, and after, I believe many, like five years it took to really research into this. And they found that there was not enough evidence to substantiate the claim that a grain-free diet was creating these issues. Now, in the beginning when this was reported, the FDA did come out and say, Hey, grain-free diet, don't recommend it. You should avoid it. It's causing these issues. But once they really started to dig into these claims, they just did not find enough scenarios with a correlation to these cardiac issues. And the FDA did actually, uh, reig their statements. They did take it back and said, we were wrong. And this information is all, you know, you can Google this. Anybody that wants to learn more, if they're concerned about these grain-free diets, you can find that, uh, they did go back on that statement and said, you know what? We made a mistake. We were wrong. Uh, this, this is not true. So that was something that put a lot of fear into pet owners. And my my opinion is that that's something you comfortable feeding. I would not be afraid to it just cause we enough evidence to that it's not causing these issues.
Speaker 2:So you're talking about if you feed grain-free then,
Speaker 4:Right? Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I want everybody to understand that we're talking about if you feed a grain-free diet, your dog's not gonna have cardiac issues. At least that's the latest research, because I'm glad I have you. I didn't know that, um, they had changed their stance on I can't keep up with everything. That's why I need you guys. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Ab who can keep up with everything. There's just, there's so much out, there's so throwing information at difficult, it's not always, uh, um, a coincidence.<laugh>, I guess I'll
Speaker 2:Say it that way. So, so, okay. So the latest news, the latest information is, um, no, um, feeding your dog a grain-free diet is not gonna cause cardiac issues. Stacey, should dogs be eating greens? I mean, forget about the cardiac issue, which there is none. But are grains something that should be part of a dog's diet?
Speaker 4:That's a tricky question. Um, I, I studied several different schools of thought and, you know, one school of thought is that, um, canines, they're carnivores, I don't disagree with this. The science and anatomy backs up the fact that theyre indeed carnivores. Their bodies were designed to eat and process meat. Okay? Now, their were studies conducted that confirmed, yeah, they, they did eat grains, they did eat fruits and vegetables in the wild. It's kinda like here in Iowa we have wild beer and, um, they're kind of scavengers. And when it gets cold outside here, they'll eat things they wouldn't normally eat. But in order to survive, you know, they'll eat whatever's out there. It's the same with the, the canines, the wolves that they descended from. Technically they'll eat fruit, vegetables, grains, if that's all that's available, but that's not what their bodies require to sustain themselves. So in general, they don't need grain, they do not have nutritional requirement for grains, protein in meat is what they require. Now that being said, certain dogs have medical conditions, illnesses, diseases that to be carefully monitored with their diet. So sometimes they need grains. So for example, my little old schauer, he's got pancreatitis. Okay? So he cannot tolerate a high protein diet, he's gotta have that balance with some carbs. So in that instance, grains are necessary for him. So it's, it's kind a double edge sword there. Do they need it? No. But sometimes is it necessary for their situation? Sure.
Speaker 2:So if a person wants to look at, um, different options, you know, as far as feeding their dogs, um, I, I choose to feed a raw diet. Now, there's a lot of people that, um, think that it's scary to feed a raw diet, that your dog's gonna get sick from eating raw food. I know a lot of veterinarians that will tell people, Hey, don't, don't feed your dog a raw diet. Your dog's gonna get salmonella. Um, and you know, I always tell people when I hear these stories, I go, well, there was no kibble bush in the wild. So what's that all about? Talk about, talk about raw diets if you would.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Um, kinda thing clients, pet parents is, it's really important to do your own research, right? We've got so many experts and, and, uh, social media avenues that throw this information at us. And, you know, everything is bad. Everything is horrible. We're gonna kill our pets if we do this. If we don't do that, really do your own research to understand what you're feeding and why you're feeding it to them. Um, that said, I love a raw diet. Like I said, you know, their carnivores, they were designed, their teeth are for a, their teeth were meant tear. Digestive systems has enzymes and acids that were created specifically to break down meat and bone. Our human systems were not designed like that. So, uh, one other thing when you had mentioned, uh, some vets say, oh, you, you can't feed raw that that'll give them salmonella. One thing we need to keep in mind with our veterinarians who do tremendous jobs, by the way, I have so much respect for our vets. They have tough jobs. And one problem is they don't receive a lot of nutrition training in vet school. It usually consists of a couple weeks of extremely basic nutrition, and that's it. They don't learn about raw diets. They don't learn about all these things that we know now. So with salmonella, I'll, I'll talk about that. Uh, again, dogs have all these enzymes and acids naturally in their systems. Those enzymes that they have were designed to neutralize diseases like salmonella. Dogs do not get salmonella like humans do. Okay? So when you hear about pet food brands that had a salmonella outbreak and there was a recall, what's happening with those is one, it's a dry kibble. More often than not, it's not a raw food. Number two, the person who got sick, who got salmonella, it was a human, wasn't a dog. And these are the things that they talk about when it's reported that there's a recall. It's made to seem like all these dogs got sick from this food, when in reality it was a kibble. The owner handled the kibble and likely touched it, did not wash their hands after handling it, and then touched, you know, their eyes, their nose, their mouth, they ingested it's salmon poisoning.
Speaker 2:Now, one of the things that, you know, when I'm talking to pet parents about, um, you know, diet, nutrition, I let them know. And, and, and I mean, my experience has been, I don't care what you transition your pet to, um, if you do it cold Turkey, in my experience, most of'em are getting diarrhea. And a lot of, and, and a lot of times people are saying, oh, my dog got sick from, from the food. So talk a little bit, talk about, you know, how people need to switch diets so that that doesn't happen, and why does that happen with a dog? You know, I can eat all kinds of different things and hopefully I'm not gonna have that same problem. Okay,<laugh>. But, but dogs do talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, I mean, you know, as, as humans, we have all kinds of hip, trendy, cool diets that are out there that we should try. And if you've spent a lifetime of eating one way, and then, uh, you one day get up and you start eating nothing but, uh, hamburger, uh, steak, pork, uh, and you're putting, oh, what is it in your coffee? The oil in your coffee, and you know, you're eating nothing but fat and meat all day, you're gonna have some stomach upset, right? Uh, it's the same thing with dogs. Now, with some dogs, you could switch them, uh, cold Turkey, you could just start feeding them something different one day and they'll be fine. It happens. But more often than not, when you're making a major switch like that, it's a shock to the system. And so what's recommended for any food, it doesn't matter. You're gonna put to a different kibble if you're to him, to a freeze dried, a raw food, low and slow is what's recommended. Uh, you start by swapping out a little bit of their regular food for the new food. You see how it goes. You watch, uh, you watch when they go to the bathroom, you know, do we have diarrhea? Are they not going at all? Are they vomiting? If not, that's a green light. Then we switch out a little bit more the next day, and then the next day we switch out a little bit more. But we continue to monitor what, you know, do we have diarrhea or do we not? Are we vomiting or no? And you just ba you watch the in front of you. And that's something, that's a big thing that I tell people. You feed the pet in front of you, so as long as you're getting that green light, you keep moving forward. But if you're getting the red light, meaning you're seeing diarrhea, vomiting, let anything that seems like they're off and they're not adjusting well, you pull back until those symptoms resolved. Once they're back to a normal, uh, normal bowel movement, no vomiting, then you keep trying again. And that is typically how people are more successful and they adjust, and then eventually they're just used to it. And you can go forward from there. But that is one of the reasons that that's also, you know, say, oh, well they've got diarrhea, they're thrown up. Oh, they can't tolerate that food. It's not for them. When in reality you just need to take a little bit more time and be patient.
Speaker 2:Now, what are some of the benefits, um, of feeding raw, um, over other type diets? I mean, we, yeah, we talk about their carnivores, but, you know, what would be the benefit over say, feeding raw over kibble?
Speaker 4:Uh, there are, there's, there's a ton. There's just a ton of benefits. And I preface that by saying also, you, you feed what you feel is right for your pet and what your hard lines are. Okay? If your budget restricts you to feeding a certain dollar amount and you cannot feed something like a raw diet, because let's be honest, it's not inexpensive to feed your pet raw. So, you know, making those determinations first. But if you are able to feed raw, you're able to cut out a lot of synthetic vitamins because what people don't realize is in kibble, when, when kibble is made, it's heated at high, high rates of heat multiple times. So essentially you're burning out all of those beneficial vitamins and nutrients. So in order to supplement that, we have to add in synthetic vitamins. So for people, you know, we go to the nutrition store, we buy our supplements for us, right? Those are synthetic vitamins. The downside with the pet food synthetics is that a lot of times they're imported from China. And China does not have quality control regulations that the United States does. So it's very, uh, unclear what the quality of these supplements is that is going into the kibble. And that is something that has caused recalls and even death in some. So by feeding a raw diet, you're just eliminating that risk altogether because all of the vitamins, the nutrients that they need is found in that food. There's no need to supplement when you're feeding a raw diet. Another benefit is typically with a raw diet, you also wanna make sure it's balanced, not just giving them raw steak and putting it in front of them, okay? Uh, you have to make sure that you are balancing that diet with all of the essential nutrients. So, uh, that means things like liver, uh, bone is extremely important. And one, uh, thing that, you know, pet owners, we, we watch the poop, right? Uh, one, one benefit is when they are eating a raw diet with bone, it actually helps to make bowel movements smaller, more compact. It is less amatic, uh, to clean up in the yard. And one interesting thing is it's, it's smaller. It's more compact, it's easier to clean up and it'll actually disintegrate much faster than, uh, based food. If you're into that, like Im, it's very interesting to see the differences. Um, but you'll notice right away the grow in thicker, shinier, healthier, they're those nonsynthetic nutrients. They're getting natural, the wild and it's skin clears up. Skin issues are usually nine outta 10 times caused by what they're eating. And when you eliminate those synthetic items, then the skin issues clear up. So that is a huge benefit I see with my clients is, uh, all those skin irritations typically will go away just by feeding the raw diet.
Speaker 2:Now, let's say that somebody can't afford to do a raw diet, um, or they're just, they're not sure if it's right for them at this point in time, um, but they want to, they're looking at maybe is there another alternative, um, that might be better than, than kibble. So talk about that if you could. What are some of the other options?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of options. And like I said, you know, I to people said my husband will kill that much money on a raw food. I can't do it. So budget is sometimes factor. Sometimes it's, you know, if everybody in the household is not board, it doesn't make sense to feed one thing over something else. So that's what I talk about with my clients is, is balance. You know, if you're not ready to commit to feeding an all, all raw diet, there's things like dehydrated foods, freeze dried foods, but also, you know, I've only got time to feed kibble. I don't want a bunch of storage issues for, I don't, uh, I don't wanna commit to raw. I like feeding kibble. It works for us. I wanna make it healthier. You can supplement kibble with what, what's kinda called it's toppers and that means fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, uh, you could put in a little, uh, meat. And it doesn't always have to be raw meat. Uh, you could have some, um, lightly cooked chicken, pork, beef, um, and put that on top of their food. You could put about 10% of what they would normally eat, uh, as a topper. And just adding something simple like that can make a huge difference. They're getting some of that fresh nutrients that they're missing out on, but you're supplementing it. And you could even do, you know, half and half like that. Uh, store bought treats is one where you can make a big difference, cut out the store, bought treats, get out the fresh baby, carrots, the celery, the strawberries, the blueberries. There's a lot of dogs can eat most fruits and vegetables. Uh, and there's a lot of, um, information about fruits and vegetables that they cannot eat. A lot of those, uh, are inaccurate. In fact, most fruits and vegetables are safe. So just swaping out those store bought treats for fresh fruits and vegetables can be a huge difference and helps lose weight too. You're not getting all those empty calories with, uh, with like what you would with the store bought treat.
Speaker 2:Now what are, you know, you said that there are a lot of fruits and vegetables you can have or the dogs can have and there's a lot of misinformation, but what are some fruits and vegetables they can't have? Cuz we don't want people giving their dogs things that are gonna be toxic.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. Uh, one thing is raisins. Uh, grapes, raisins come from grapes. Uh, but grapes are a big no-no. Um, we don't wanna feed things like macada nuts, but things like almonds, they could have, um, one, one misconception with avocado, you can't feed your dog avocado, which that's not correct. Now, the pit and the skin, no, but think about would you eat the pit of an avocado? No course would give your, the, of the avocado is perfectly and fine to feed in small amounts. Uh, so I mean, it's just, it's things like that. And again, I I recommend doing your research and don't just rely on somebody that you found on TikTok or, you know, some of these videos. Um, really get in there and start researching, um, you know, what, what you have available to you and if it's safe for your dog.
Speaker 2:I got a question here that came up and I don't know if you can, uh, answer this. Um, somebody's asking, can I get Sal Manila from my dog saliva if I feed raw food?
Speaker 4:You know? And the term for that is a zoo disease. A zoonotic disease is something that can be, uh, transferred from your, to you. And I honest, I don't, I'm not positive, but I don't, it, it's a zoonotic disease. Don't quote me on that. Um, I would be happy to go back and check cause I have a list. That's one thing that we teach actually in the, uh, the CPR classes or do nots. Um, I would say just a good rule of thumb is, is if your dog has eaten something, you know, um, maybe, maybe hold off on the kisses, uh, right after dinner.<laugh> wait a little bit. But, uh, I I would not, um, be concerned, be as concerned about that, um, as getting something like, uh, you know, they can give you pink eye. They can give you, uh, you know, a a variety of other things, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't stress out about getting salmonella from your dog.
Speaker 2:Got it. Now there's another question, and I don't know that this, to me, this seems more like a question that, uh, we need to give to a veterinarian, but, uh, Janice says, my dog suffers bladder infections. He's on an antibiotic. Uh, then it comes back. Should my dog be neutered? He's going to be four years old, uh, the end of the month. Uh, Janice, I can't talk to that in terms of, you know, neutering and whether that's gonna help with, uh, bladder infections. Um, my gut feeling is no, it's not gonna help. Um, I don't know, Stacy, if that's anything that, uh, I don't want anybody to get out step outside of their lane because, you know, we we're not giving medical advice. But, uh, any thoughts to that? Or do we need to just send Janice to her vet?
Speaker 4:I, I wish I had some good advice on that. Cause uh, bladder infections and bladder issues, uh, are more and more common. I unfortunately not, uh, positive on correlation between that and the neutering process. Um, I would go ahead and consult, uh, your vet on that one.
Speaker 2:And Janice, I'll tell you one thing, again, I'm not a veterinarian and I'm not giving out medical advice. And what I'm gonna tell you right now, I want you to make sure that you talk to your vet before you do it. Um, I had a dog that had chronic, um, urinary tract infections, and it was on antibiotic after antibiotic after antibiotic. I happened to talk to a holistic vet and she told me for two weeks, every 12 hours, uh, give this dog, um, two capsules of eia, two capsules of marshmallow root extract, and two capsules of cranberry extract. And I did that for two weeks and the urinary tract infection went away and it never came back. Coincidence, does it work? I don't know. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I don't know. Sia, marshmallow root extract and cranberry extract. But again, I'm not a veterinarian, I'm not a holistic vet. I, I, this is just anecdotal what worked for me, what I heard from a holistic vet. Um, but talk to your vet about, you know, the situation that, that you're having, Janice, but I appreciate, uh, the question, uh, what is this? Yeah, she's gonna talk to her a vet about that. Um, let's see. Amanda says, I make my dog's food at home. What is the best supplement to add to ensure that she's getting all the nu nutrients that, that she needs?
Speaker 4:That's a great question, and I wish more people would ask that for that on that. But I, I feel like, again, people just, you know, wanna go buy some raw meat and give it to their dog. And in theory, you're in, you're going in the right direction, but if it doesn't contain all of the proper nutrients, they're going to be lacking. And I compare that to, you know, could I live on Big Mac and Bud Light every day? Yeah. Would that be a healthy choice? Am I getting everything I need? Absolutely not. So, uh, if you are creating a raw diet or a gently cooked diet, um, I would really recommend looking at just going online and looking for recipes. Um, there's a lot of recipe builders out there, but uh, you're wanting to make sure that you're having a balanced diet, meaning you've got a proper amount of protein. You've got like the liver, the pancreas, things like that. You make sure there's bone in there. And I will tell you, I have made raw, raw diets, uh, recipes. It's very time consuming and you need to be very exact and specific when you're putting everything in yourself individually. I recommend for simplicity, for making it easy. If you want to make it yourself, uh, look for, there's something, there's one, uh, company called Balance It, or that's the name of their, their supplement where you add that to the meat and it's actually adding all of those other, uh, organs and things. So you don't have to, there's a lot of, uh, brands out there that do that. Um, or, um, honestly, there are commercial frozen brands that you can order online or that are available in local pet stores and boutiques that they've done it all for you. And what the label will say is 80 10 10, or they'll be some type of ratio like that showing 80% meat, 10% organ, 10% bone. That's a pretty good guideline to go by is the 80 10 ratio. Uh, so if you're making your own and you really want, um, add your own organ and bone, uh, just make sure that you're prepared to do the math calculations to make sure you're otherwise look for one of those commercially made brands that you can buy the all done and that is just as healthy and just as good. There's nothing wrong with buying those commercial brands as long as they're following that ratio,
Speaker 2:Stacy. Now that's great information, but some people might want to get a little more in depth in that might wanna get some help. Do you do any consulting?
Speaker 4:I do some consulting. Uh, I typically, at this time, I, I don't usually provide recipes. Um, and I'll tell you the reason why is just cause there are so many varying, uh, every dog is different and we really get into the realm of if something is not quite right for that dog, they could become ill. Um, I give more generalizations. So for example, um, the easy tips that I give people is if you really wanna avoid, uh, triggers, irritants, allergens, stay away from anything that has chickens, lamb, or beef, uh, anything else, you should be good to go. Um, and also I do recommend staying away from grains if possible, just cause they're a big allergy trigger too, and they cause a lot of skin issues. Um, they're, I I try not to promote, uh, people or businesses or, or anything like that, but, uh, there is a book called The Forever Dog, um, by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker. And it's a great starting place. Uh, cause she gives you recipes as a baseline. And that's what I encourage people to look for are these baseline recipes. Because what you can do then is tweak it for your own lifestyle, for what's available to you locally to buy and what you're comfortable using. So by using these types of recipe builders, you start to learn that knowledge and then you don't need to pay somebody like me to create your recipes. You're totally empowered and do that's a ton of free information. Just look for pet food, recipe builder, things like that on Google and save your hard earned money. And you're totally capable of building your own recipes as long as you understand the rules behind it.
Speaker 2:That's great information. We appreciate that Other I, and I can appreciate you not wanting to, um, endorse or specifically recommend a particular diet. Um, I guess my question, I should have clarified it a little bit better. In general, just people that are interested in getting some, you know, general help with diet nutrition with their dog, do you do consulting?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, things like, well, this is what I'm currently feeding, uh, but my dog is really itchy. Or, you know, he, he eat, wanna eat it. Um, general things like that on the things that we can tweak, uh, to see if that improves. Yeah, I definitely consult with people on that.
Speaker 2:So, do me a favor, if you would, Stacy, if any of our viewers, if any of our listeners to the podcast as well want to get in touch with you, how can they do that? Is there a way they can do that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, um, my phone number here, which I am in Iowa, uh, my number is five. I also contact wellness and, uh, people just shoot me a message on there. And then, uh, we, we find the best way to, to contact each other. Uh, my, my email address is, it's my bus, just my business name, bz pet wellness gmail com. Uh, and that's usually the best way to reach me.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Um, ladies, we are out of time. That was a great show. I didn't realize that we would take up the full hour, but we did. That's how important that topic is. Um, Melinda, Stacy, really appreciate you, uh, Melinda, can you give out the information again how people can contact you about, uh, PET C p R in first aid?
Speaker 3:Sure. If they can give me a call at(480) 689-1261 or they can go to my website, the frontline coalition.com, where I have descriptions of the classes and I've got all my schedule throughout this entire year and they can actually sign up through the website.
Speaker 2:So do that folks. You know, take your New Year's resolution and say, Hey, I'm gonna have one for my dog as well. Melinda, Stacy, thank you so much for being on PET Talk today. We really appreciate all the great information you're able to provide. And, uh, I'm hoping if, if those of you that are watching or listening are interested in learning more about pet nutrition and diet, um, contact Stacy, if you're interested in pet cpr, first aid, contact melinda@thefrontlinecoalition.com. Um, I took it and you're gonna learn a lot. It, it blew my mind. Ladies, thank you so much. We're definitely gonna have you back on because this is a great topic. Um, thanks again for being here. Have a great weekend.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Will
Speaker 2:It? You bet. Thank you very much. You bet. All right folks, well,<laugh>, that was Scooby-Doo laughing. That wasn't the button I wanted. That's the one I wanted. Well, that means we are just about out of time here today. We went over a little bit, uh, two minutes after 10. Um, I'm gonna be here again next Saturday. Same time. Tell your friends about it. Hit that like button, hit that share button. We appreciate you. Take your dogs for a walk, train your dogs. Have a great, great weekend.