My Dog Is Better Than Your Dog

Your Pet Is Not Worried About Dying. You Are. What if the tumor is not the disease? What if it is the body's way of telling us something went wrong a long time ago, and the real work is figuring out what that was? Dr. Judy Jasek graduated from Colorado State University in 1988 and spent years in conventional practice before something shifted. Her own horse developed a behavioral problem that no conventional approach could touch. An energetic chiropractor turned the animal around completely, and once Dr. Judy started looking at medicine differently, she could not stop. Nearly 40 years later, she runs Animal Healing Arts, a telemedicine practice rooted in what she calls the Terrain Paradigm: the idea that health is the body's natural state, and our job is to figure out what knocked the body off balance and help it return. We talk about mistletoe therapy, ozone, Chinese herbal medicine, why she almost never recommends surgery as a first step, and why your pet is not worried about dying from cancer. They just want to live a happy life. And the energy you bring into the room, fear or gratitude, directly affects their healing. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ The tumor is the tip of the iceberg. It is a warning sign that the body's toxic load has exceeded what it can handle. Removing the tumor without addressing what caused it is incomplete. ✨ Cancer rates are rising in young dogs. Lymphoma in two-year-olds, aggressive tumors in four-year-olds. This was not something seen 20 or 30 years ago and it is a wake-up call. ✨ Dr. Judy's first question for every cancer patient is not about the diagnosis. It is how is the pet doing. A pet that is still eating, vigorous, and enjoying life has a lot to work with. ✨ Mistletoe therapy has been used in human oncology in Europe for over 100 years. In Germany, roughly 70% of human cancer patients receive it. It is immunomodulating, has direct anti-cancer effects, and can be administered at home. ✨ Fever after mistletoe treatment can be a sign the immune system is waking up, not a sign something is wrong. Warming the body activates enzymatic pathways that support healing. ✨ Ozone therapy oxygenates the body at a cellular level. When pets are tired after ozone treatment, it is often because the body has been given a healing tool and needs to rest to use it. ✨ Dr. Judy almost never recommends surgery as a first step. Unless there is a life-threatening blockage or bleed, she focuses on supporting the body first and correcting what led to the cancer. ✨ Success does not have to mean the tumor is gone. Can the pet live with this comfortably with good quality of life? That is a more realistic and more achievable goal than elimination. ✨ Your pet does not know they have cancer. They want to eat, play, and curl up next to you. The fear and grief you carry around them affects their healing. Gratitude and presence are medicine. ✨ Prevention is the most powerful tool. Testing the gut microbiome, vitamin D levels, and toxic burden early, before anything shows up on bloodwork, gives the body the best chance to come back into balance before disease develops. ✨ Diarrhea is not a metronidazole deficiency. Any symptom the body produces naturally has a reason. The question is not how do we stop this, it is what is the body trying to tell us. RESOURCES: Animal Healing Arts: https://ahavet.com Instagram: @animal.healing.arts Facebook: @animalhealingarts Substack: judyjasekdvm.substack.com 👉 Membership (free to join): https://ahavet.com/membership-agreement/ FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

This one started as a continuation after the main episode wrapped up. Heather Gibson and Dr. Lily just kept talking, and what came next was more honest and more direct than anything in the main episode. They got into the coefficient of inbreeding, a term becoming a bigger deal in the breeding world that Dr. Lily had never heard before, and why Heather made the controversial decision to move from purebred to mixed breeding for the sake of dog health. Then Heather asked Dr. Lily about microbiome testing, fecal transplants, and why vets are still using metronidazole as a first line dewormer for puppies. That part got Dr. Lily fired up. Shorter, a little more raw, and very much a conversation between two people from different corners of pet care who both care deeply about getting this right. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ The coefficient of inbreeding measures how genetically similar a puppy's parents are. Lower numbers mean more genetic diversity, which generally means better health, stronger immunity, and fewer inherited diseases. ✨ Pedigrees alone cannot tell the full story. Two dogs from completely different lines, even different continents, can still be genetically too similar. Companies like Embark now calculate this before a breeding ever happens. ✨ Many purebred dogs are already mixed breeds, just from centuries ago. Golden Retrievers were originally Irish Setters, Bloodhounds, a Tweed Spaniel, and reportedly a dog from the side of the road. ✨ Heather moved from purebred to mixed breeding because she saw health issues she did not believe could be resolved without more genetic diversity. It is not anti-purebred. It is pro-health. ✨ Asking a breeder whether they test for coefficient of inbreeding is one of the most important questions a pet parent can ask and most never think to. ✨ Metronidazole is wildly overused as a first line dewormer for puppies. Some puppies arrive at eight weeks already having had three or four rounds, leaving their gut microbiome already depleted before they ever come home. ✨ Giardia can be cleared naturally without antibiotics. Dr. Lily has done it and trained vets to do it successfully with microbiome testing before and after to prove it. It takes more work but builds a far more resilient gut. ✨ Not every dog needs a fecal transplant. Some improve with diet changes and the right supplements. But choosing supplements without microbiome data first can sometimes make things worse. ✨ Fecal microbiome restoration does not require sedation or invasive prep. At Dr. Lily's clinic it is a gentle one to two minute procedure. Animals go home exactly as they came in. ✨ Research takes an average of 20 years to move from a journal into standard clinical practice. Our pets do not have 20 years to wait. ✨ Testing the mother's microbiome before breeding could be one of the most impactful things we do for puppy health since her microbiome becomes the puppy's starting point for life. RESOURCES: Big Hearted Breeders: https://www.bigheartedbreeders.com Instagram: @bigheartedbreeders Facebook: @bigheartedbreeders YouTube: @Bigheartedbreeders AnimalBiome: https://www.animalbiome.com AHVMA Vet Directory: https://www.ahvma.org Magic of Microbiome Course for Vets: https://theunicorn.academy FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Youtube: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

Before that puppy ever comes home to you, before the first walk, the first vet visit, the first time they fall asleep in your lap, there are six to eight weeks happening behind the scenes that will shape their health, their temperament, and their resilience for the rest of their life. Most pet parents have zero control over what happens during that window. And most never think to ask. Heather Gibson is the founder of Big Hearted Breeders, a certified pet nutrition coach who has spent over 12 years raising dogs and cats with a holistic wellness first approach. Before she was a breeder, she was a foster parent for over a decade, caring for children with severe trauma. It was watching her foster children heal through their bond with animals that set her on this path. We get into what early neurological stimulation actually is and why it matters, what health testing should happen before breeding ever begins, how to tell the difference between a breeder who truly cares and one who is running a business, and why the relationship between breeders and vets is so strained and what we can do about it. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ The first eight weeks of a puppy's life happen entirely without you. What a breeder does during that window shapes the immune system, nervous system, temperament, and resilience for life. ✨ Early neurological stimulation, developed by the military and sometimes called the Superdog program, is done from day six to day 17. Research shows it builds a more robust immune system and a nervous system better able to handle change. ✨ After those first two weeks, good breeders move into daily socialization, introducing new sounds, textures, smells, and obstacles so the puppy's brain builds the neural pathways that say new things are safe. ✨ Health testing on the parents is non-negotiable. Hips, elbows, patellas, heart, eyes, and a full genetic panel to screen for recessive genes that two healthy dogs can unknowingly both carry and pass on. ✨ Colostrum is a window that cannot be replicated. If a puppy misses those first hours of mother's milk, they start at an immune disadvantage that is very difficult to make up. Ask whether all puppies were latched and fed immediately after birth. ✨ Weaning straight from mother's milk to kibble is a harsh transition for a developing gut. Even partial introduction of fresh food during weaning sets up a stronger microbiome for life. ✨ Routine deworming with metronidazole every two weeks means some puppies have had three or four rounds of gut-clearing medication before they leave the breeder. Dr. Lily recommends testing before treating rather than automatic deworming protocols. ✨ Ask any breeder whether they offer lifetime support and whether they will take the dog back at any point if something happens to the family. That answer tells you who you are working with. ✨ A puppy at eight weeks can only be awake for about 30 minutes before needing a long rest. Overstimulation is one of the most common reasons new puppies seem out of control, and most families are never told this. ✨ The vet and breeder relationship does not have to be adversarial. They share the same goal. Building bridges between those two worlds is better for puppies and better for families. Resources: Big Hearted Breeders: https://www.bigheartedbreeders.com Instagram: @bigheartedbreeders Facebook: @bigheartedbreeders YouTube: @bigheartedbreeders TikTok: @bigheartedbreeders Pinterest: @bigheartedbreeders FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

Episode 100. I almost cannot believe it. When this podcast started, I did not know if anyone would listen. I only knew there were options out there, real and powerful ones, that too many pet parents never get told about. So I made a place for those conversations. Tonight was different. No guest, no script. Just a live recording with a room full of pet parents who have been on this journey with me, asking the real questions, sharing what they have lived through, and reminding me exactly why this exists. We talked about fecal transplants for IBD and when to start tapering off antibiotics like tylosin. We talked about ozone therapy and what it actually does inside the gut. We talked about the Qest4 scan, stem cell therapy for heart disease, UVBI, reference ranges that shift over time, and why a dog's liver values being high for 15 years might just be that dog's normal. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I said something I have been wanting to say for a long time. I am a little tired of the fighting between conventional and holistic. I do both. I sit squarely in the middle. And it was never for us doctors to decide. It is for the families to decide, and they cannot decide if they do not know the options exist. Here is to the next hundred. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Diarrhea and heart failure are not directly connected. Heart failure causes fluid in the lungs or belly, not the intestines. But pets in heart failure may be more prone to gut issues because the body is already working so hard. ✨ Seasonal flares and stress are real allergy triggers. A dog can have their food sensitivities fully managed and still flare because of pollen, environmental shifts, or the anxiety of their person being away. ✨ Quercetin with bromelain stabilizes mast cells, one of the biggest drivers of allergic reactions. It works best as longer term support rather than an in-the-moment rescue. ✨ Metronidazole has been overused for diarrhea for decades. Research shows it can damage the microbiome and sometimes it does not recover. Fecal transplant is often a better first reach. ✨ When a pet is on multiple gut medications simultaneously, FMT will be less effective but still worth doing. The goal is to build enough stability to slowly taper, starting with the antibiotic. ✨ Ozone before fecal transplant is not about killing bad bacteria. It breaks up biofilm so the new transplant material has a better chance to take hold. ✨ Reference ranges shift over time and are based on a sample population. Trends over time matter far more than any single value. ✨ When kidney values are elevated on bloodwork, 70 to 80 percent of kidney function may already be gone. Watching trends within normal range gives you time to intervene before that point. ✨ The Qest4 bioenergetic scan can test supplement compatibility, showing whether a product is addressing root cause, addressing symptoms, or is not a match for that pet. ✨ Stem cell therapy using amnion has produced dramatic results in heart valve disease, including reversal in some patients. It works best when introduced early in the disease process. ✨ A 20 minute sniff walk provides mental stimulation equivalent to roughly one hour of physical exercise. Letting the dog lead the sniff rather than pulling them along is one of the most effective enrichment tools available. ✨ The microbiome can be imbalanced from puppyhood, often traced back through generations. Testing early, before symptoms appear, gives the most time and the most options. FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA & The Unicorn Vet

A study landed on my desk a few weeks ago and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. If you have a puppy, a young dog, or you know someone who does, this minisode is for you. It is about parvovirus, one of the scariest and most deadly diseases in young dogs, and a new study showing exactly what can be added to the standard of care to give puppies a better shot at survival, and at a fraction of the cost. The study, a double blinded, placebo controlled trial out of Ohio State University, looked at fecal microbiota transplant, also called microbiome restoration therapy, added on top of standard hospitalization for parvo. Not instead of it. The results are hard to ignore, and so is the part of the story about cost, because for many families, cost is the difference between treating their dog and losing them. I am sharing this now, before you ever need it, in the hope that you never do. But if you do, I want you to already know this exists. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Parvovirus destroys the gut lining and wipes out the beneficial bacteria living there. That terrain, not just the virus itself, is largely why puppies crash so fast. ✨ Fecal microbiota transplant, FMT, works by reintroducing healthy, screened donor microbiome material into the sick puppy's gut to rebuild that destroyed terrain, rather than only fighting the virus directly. ✨ In the study, the treatment group received one rectal FMT infusion at admission plus two weeks of oral capsules, in addition to full standard hospital care. The placebo group received saline enemas and blended kibble capsules, also alongside full standard care. ✨ Puppies who received the real FMT recovered faster, had shorter hospital stays, and needed fewer medications. Shorter ICU stays alone can mean thousands of dollars in savings for a family. ✨ There were zero adverse events from the FMT treatment, even in puppies who were among the most immunocompromised patients a veterinarian will ever see. ✨ More than a third of the placebo group had to be pulled from the study early on ethical grounds because those puppies were deteriorating too quickly. None of the puppies receiving the real FMT were pulled from the study. ✨ FMT did not act as an antiviral. It did not reduce viral shedding or change the immune response to the virus directly. What it did was support the body's own ability to heal by restoring the gut terrain. ✨ The commercially available FMT material and oral capsules used in the study cost at most a few hundred dollars, a fraction of the cost of extended hospitalization, and is something any veterinarian can access today. ✨ The biggest barrier to wider adoption is not the science or the difficulty of the procedure. It is hesitancy around something newer to conventional practice, even with solid published data now behind it. ✨ Asking your vet whether they offer fecal transplant or microbiome medicine is one of the most powerful things a pet parent can do to help bring this option into more clinics. ✨ Building a strong, diverse gut microbiome before disease happens is the next layer of this conversation. Prevention and proactive gut health remain the long term goal. FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

Who Is Really Behind the Pet Health Advice You Are Getting Every piece of pet health advice reaching you through media, whether it is a food recommendation, a sponsored post, a TV segment, or a YouTube video, somebody paid for it to get to you. The question worth asking is whether it was paid for by someone who wants your pet to be healthy or someone who wants your money. Lara Shannon is a certified dog behaviourist, pet food nutritionist, and host of Pooches at Play, now in its tenth season on Channel 10 in Australia. She also created Animal SOS Australia, documenting the mental health crisis inside the veterinary profession. Here is what stopped me. In Australia, Lara funds her own TV show and pays the network to air it. For ten years she has walked a line between keeping sponsors happy and keeping the message honest. We talk about a kibble company that claimed on national TV their product fixes the gut microbiome, why Australia has zero pet food regulations, what Dr. Lily found when she tested kibble diets for toxins, the anxiety epidemic in pets on both sides of the Pacific, and a shelter crisis where 90% of animals are no longer being adopted. This one is going to make you think differently about where your information is coming from. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Every pet health recommendation you receive has a funding source behind it. That does not automatically make it wrong, but it is worth asking who paid for it and what outcome they want. ✨ Australia has zero pet food regulations. Companies are self-regulated and can make almost any health claim without evidence to back it up. ✨ A kibble brand ran a national TV ad claiming their product improves the gut microbiome while raw feeding companies had to fight through endless approvals to get basic claims through. ✨ Dr. Lily tested kibble-fed pets and found consistently high levels of glyphosate and mold toxins. A major pet food company responded that levels were within the acceptable range for people. Pets are not people. ✨ Adding fresh food to the bowl can change everything. Lara's friend had a fussy anxious dog with skin issues who never touched his kibble. One change and he inhaled it. Dr. Lily had the same experience with her own dog. ✨ Anxiety in pets is rising on both sides of the Pacific. Pets mirror our stress and nervous system. When we are rushing and anxious, our animals go up a level. ✨ Itchy skin and gut issues are connected to behavior. If a pet is uncomfortable, it shows up as anxiety and reactivity. Rule out the physical before addressing the behavioral. ✨ In Australia, 90% of shelter animals are currently not being adopted while surrenders keep rising due to cost of living. Shelters are over capacity. ✨ The veterinary profession has one of the highest rates of burnout and suicide of any profession. Lara advocates from outside the profession because sometimes that outside voice carries differently. RESOURCES: Lara Shannon: https://www.larashannon.com Pooches at Play: https://www.poochesatplay.com Instagram: @larashannon @poochesatplay Linktree: @larashannon @poochesatplay Books: Eat, Play, Love Your Dog and World of Dogs available in the US FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

What If Your Dog Could Live to 25 w/ Dr. Gary Richter Your dog's cells are aging right now, and by the time you notice the stiffness, the slowing down, the gray around the muzzle, it has already been happening for years. Dr. Gary Richter has spent over 25 years in integrative veterinary medicine asking what else is possible. He is the author of Longevity for Dogs and Longevity for Cats, founder of Ultimate Pet Nutrition, and right now he is building PetMetrics, a wearable biometric monitor for pets that works like an Apple Watch crossed with veterinary medicine. This conversation goes places I did not expect. We start with the three things that matter more than any supplement or technology for your pet's longevity, and they are free. Then we get into what is available right now that most pet parents have never heard of: UC-II collagen, Adequan, plasmalogens, and peptides like BPC-157. And then Dr. Richter walks me through gene therapy research that can literally instruct aging cells to go backwards. He said something that stuck with me. It is not at all out of the realm of possibility that pets living well over 20 is going to become the norm. After this conversation, I believe him. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ The three most important things for your pet's longevity are diet, exercise, and lifestyle. They are free. No amount of stem cells, peptides, or gene therapy will overcome a body not getting the basics right. ✨ Most pets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D even when eating a good diet. Test before supplementing, especially vitamin D as too much can cause kidney failure. ✨ UC-II collagen is significantly more effective than glucosamine and chondroitin for joint support, yet most pet parents and veterinarians have never heard of it. ✨ Adequan is one of the most underutilized tools in small animal medicine. Dr. Richter cannot keep it on the shelf. If your pet has arthritis, ask your vet about it. ✨ Plasmalogens are fatty acids that are an integral part of cell membranes and decline as pets age. Low levels are linked to organ failure, cognitive decline, and neuropathy. ✨ Peptides like BPC-157 are being used for gut support, tissue healing, muscle repair, and cognitive support. They are just beginning to enter mainstream veterinary medicine. ✨ PetMetrics is a wearable device in development that will monitor your pet's heart rate, respiration, sleep, and activity levels in real time, flagging problems before they become emergencies. ✨ Pets are hardwired to hide illness. By the time symptoms appear, a disease process has often been going on for far too long. Early detection changes everything. ✨ Yamanaka factors are a set of genes that can literally tell mature cells to go backwards in age. Researchers at Harvard are actively working on controlled applications for both animals and people. ✨ Aging is not magic. It is biology. If we can make it run faster through poor lifestyle choices, it stands to reason we can make it run slower through the right ones. ✨ Loyal's longevity drug targets insulin-like growth factor as a function of aging. Dr. Richter says if clinical trials show it is safe and effective, he will use it in his practice without hesitation. 📥 Download our free Longevity Guide with all the supplements and modalities mentioned in this episode. RESOURCES: Dr. Gary Richter: Instagram @petvetexpert Holistic Veterinary Care: https://www.holisticvetcare.com Ultimate Pet Nutrition: https://www.ultimatepetnutrition.com PetMetrics: https://www.petmetrics.com Prodrome Sciences (plasmalogens): https://www.prodromesciences.com FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

Why a Good Probiotic Is Not Enough and What Your Dog Actually Needs for Real Gut Health w/ Billy Hoekman If you have ever told your vet your dog is already on a good probiotic, this episode is going to make you think differently about that. Billy Hoekman is back. He is Vice President of Nutrition and Communication at Green Juju, and he has been in pet nutrition for 15 years. The last time he was on the podcast, the probiotic line was still in development. Now it is out, the clinical research is done, and the results are worth talking about. We get into why microbial diversity matters far more than finding the right probiotic strain, why the Amish kids Billy works with on farms in Pennsylvania do not have allergies, and what that tells us about our pets living in our clean modern homes. He also shares why every single one of the longest-lived dogs in recorded history had one thing in common. And then there is the clinical research. Two months, 47 dogs, and results that honestly surprised even the lab. Gut inflammation normalized in 98% of the dogs. The body's ability to detoxify improved by 57% on average. And the symptom improvements showed up exactly where you would expect them in real life. If your dog has allergies, skin issues, anxiety, or gut problems, this one is worth your full attention. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ A good probiotic is not a category. It is a principle. Your dog needs microbial diversity from food, fermented products, the environment, and supplements that reflect what nature actually provides. ✨ The Amish kids Billy works with on farms in Pennsylvania do not have allergies. They are barefoot all summer, swimming in ponds, surrounded by animals and soil. Constant microbial exposure is not a coincidence. ✨ Every one of the longest-lived dogs in recorded history slept outside. Our sanitized modern homes have removed something important from their lives. ✨ True health is resilience. If your dog is fine only on the exact right diet and supplements but falls apart the moment something changes, that is managed health, not true health. ✨ Green Juju's probiotics are grown from whole fermented foods: kombucha, wild fermented vegetables, and raw milk from an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania. The soil probiotic contains 500 plus naturally occurring species. ✨ Beta-glucuronidase, which measures how well the body detoxifies, dropped by an average of 57% in two months across 47 dogs. ✨ Calprotectin, the marker for gut inflammation, normalized in 98% of the dogs. Nine started with high inflammation. At the end, 45 out of 47 were in normal range. ✨ Symptom improvements tracked by size. Large dogs: panting and lethargy. Medium dogs: gas and diarrhea. Small dogs: anxiety and excessive licking. If your small dog seems anxious and licks constantly, that may be a gut issue. ✨ 44% of dogs showed a reduced immune response to gluten. When the gut heals, immune overreaction to many things starts to come down. ✨ Dr. Lily rotates her fecal microbiome restoration patients through Green Juju's Soil, Farm, and Leaf probiotics as part of her standard post-protocol. ✨ You can run your own case study. Order a gut health test from Innovative Pet Labs, start a probiotic, and retest in two months. RESOURCES: Green Juju: https://www.greenjuju.com Instagram: @greenjujukitchen Facebook: facebook.com/greenjujukitchen Clinical Research: email info@greenjuju.com or william@greenjuju.com Innovative Pet Lab: https://www.innovativepetlab.com FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVA, CVA

Charlotte Speller spent 15 years as a dog behavior trainer before becoming a veterinary physiotherapist. And the thing that changed her path was something she kept seeing that nobody was talking about. Dogs labeled as difficult, grumpy, or reactive who were actually in pain. Not a behavior problem. A body problem. Nobody had caught it yet. That observation sent her into physiotherapy, where she now combines her understanding of animal behavior with hands-on physical rehabilitation. She works with post-surgical recovery, chronic arthritis, and dogs who have been told there is nothing more that can be done. We talk about the subtle signs most pet parents miss, why your dog hesitating before jumping in the car might matter more than you think, how a tiny wince across her own dog's face turned out to be the first sign of osteosarcoma, and why she wants to make herself redundant by getting to dogs before there is ever a crisis to fix. This is a conversation about prevention, about paying attention, and about what happens when we stop waiting for things to get bad before we ask for help. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Dogs labeled as grumpy, reactive, or difficult are often in pain. Behavior changes can be the first and only sign that something is wrong physically. ✨ Watch for what has changed, not what is dramatic. Hesitating before jumping in the car, avoiding slippery floors, taking themselves off to a new spot to lie down, not wanting to be touched. These are the early signs. ✨ Noise sensitivity can be a pain signal. If a dog that was never bothered by loud sounds suddenly becomes anxious around noise, the body may be bracing because sudden movement hurts. ✨ Charlotte's dog Brutus showed one single wince when asked to jump into the van. That was the first sign of osteosarcoma. It is that subtle. Please do not feel guilty for missing things this small. ✨ A step that is six inches high is roughly the equivalent of a dachshund climbing pyramid steps. We never think about how our home environment is physically taxing on small dogs with every single trip up and down. ✨ Nobody ever taught our dogs how to move properly. They just fly up and down the stairs, jump off furniture, and we never think to build the strength and body awareness that would protect them. ✨ Physiotherapy offered as a last resort, after medications have stopped working, is heartbreaking. Charlotte describes getting dogs into her clinic who could have been helped years earlier if she had been part of the plan from the start. ✨ When the first anti-inflammatory is prescribed, that is the moment to also bring in physiotherapy. One manages symptoms. The other works on the root cause. They should always go together. ✨ Prevention is the goal. Charlotte said something that stayed with me: you go to the gym not because something is wrong, but because you want to stay healthy and functional. Why would we not think the same way about our dogs? ✨ Before your vet appointment, send a video. It gives your vet something to work with immediately instead of spending the whole visit trying to describe what you are seeing at home. RESOURCES: Charlotte Speller Lead the Way Physio: https://leadthewayphysio.co.uk Facebook: Lead the Way Physio and Behavior Training Instagram: @leadthewayphysio Email: charlotte@leadthewayphysio.co.uk FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Threads: @integrativepet TikTok: @integrativepet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips ⁠ 🐶🐈‍⬛ Dr. Lily Chen: Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Threads: @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen, DVM, CVA

Three big stories on my mind right now that I think every pet parent should know about. Story one: Chewy just acquired Modern Animal, a tech-forward veterinary chain with 29 clinics. That means the same company selling your dog's food, supplements, and medications now also owns the vet clinics seeing your dog. Is that great news or scary news? Honestly, both. Story two: Loyal is developing a longevity drug for senior dogs that promises to extend healthy life by about a year. The FDA cleared a major safety hurdle in January 2026. But here's the thing: we already know how to give most senior dogs more good time. Lean body weight, good nutrition, exercise, sleep, connection. These things are powerful. So why are we reaching for a pill? Story three: New allergy drugs are hitting the market. NUMELVI and Zenrelia are JAK inhibitors that stop the itch sensation. But they don't fix the underlying immune issue. And one of them came with an FDA warning that dogs could die if vaccinated while on the drug. I bring these up not to scare you, but to help you think critically about what's happening in pet care right now and what questions you should be asking. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Chewy now owns 47 veterinary clinics after acquiring Modern Animal. That's a lot of vertical integration and a lot of incentive to recommend their own products. ✨ Ask your vet who owns the practice. You'd be surprised how many clinics that look independently owned are actually backed by corporate or private equity groups. ✨ Always keep a copy of your pet's medical records and lab results. It helps when you need care somewhere else or have multiple providers. ✨ Loyal's longevity drug LOY-002 targets age-related metabolic dysfunction in senior dogs 10+ years old and weighing at least 14 lbs. It cleared FDA safety approval in January 2026. ✨ We already know how to extend most dogs' lives by a year or more: lean body weight, good nutrition, exercise, sleep, and connection. A study from 22 years ago proved this. ✨ The goal can't just be more days. The goal is more good days and quality days. ✨ NUMELVI and Zenrelia are JAK inhibitors that stop the itch sensation in allergic dogs. They don't fix the underlying immune issue. ✨ Zenrelia came with an FDA warning: do not vaccinate dogs while on this drug. Pause the medication for 28 days to 3 months before vaccinating. Some dogs died after being vaccinated while on the drug. ✨ Allergy drugs buy you time to work on the root cause. They should not be relied on forever because chronic immune issues can lead to more serious problems like cancer later in life. ✨ Corporate consolidation in veterinary medicine has actually slowed in 2026, which makes the Chewy-Modern Animal deal one of the biggest recent moves. FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen DVM, CVA 👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

A cardiologist told Weylie her dog had only six to nine months to live. That was over 15 months ago. Her dog's heart disease has actually reversed. And her cardiologist doesn't have a great explanation for it. Weylie Hoang is not a vet. She's not a doctor or a researcher. But she is an expert on her pet. She grew up with zero experience with animals, trusted everything her vet said, fed kibble because that's just what you do. Never questioned it until the day her dog was put on steroids after a dental procedure and nobody told her what was coming. The thirst, the weight gain, the personality shift. By the time she figured out what was happening, her dog was never quite the same. That moment changed everything. Fast forward and Weylie is now the pet parent who drives over an hour each way for integrative care, who researches at midnight, who does nightly positive affirmations with her dogs, and whose dog Navi, the one given six to nine months after congestive heart failure, is still here thriving with documented reversal of her heart disease. This conversation is for anyone who has ever sat in a vet's office and felt dismissed, anyone who's been told "just watch and wait" when your gut is screaming that something is wrong, and anyone who is curious about holistic care but doesn't know where to start or is scared of being judged for even asking. Weylie's been there. And she's going to tell you exactly what she did about it. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ You are the expert on your pet. Your daily observations are clinical data. No one has more of it than you. Trust what you see. ✨ A defensive vet is a red flag. If asking questions makes them defensive or they don't explain things clearly, consider a second opinion. ✨ Integrated medicine isn't choosing sides. It's choosing more. Navi is on heart medication AND gets acupuncture, fecal transplants, ozone therapy, and amnion cell treatment. None of these cancel each other out. They compound. ✨ Being proactive is always cheaper and more effective than being reactive. Catch issues early before they become full-blown crises requiring stronger medications. ✨ Healing isn't just physical. Nightly positive affirmations, calm energy, and intentional moments of love create measurable changes in your pet's wellbeing. ✨ If you're doing the same thing, you're only going to get the same results. If what you're doing isn't working, try something different. ✨ Amnion stem cell therapy changed everything for Navi. Her resting breath rate dropped from 26 to 12. Her allergies improved. Her heart disease reversed from stage C to stage B1. ✨ Fecal transplant combined with amnion helped Navi's chronic allergies so much that she no longer needs Cytopoint injections. ✨ Thoughts and energy carry measurable vibration. Dogs feel our energy. What started as silly affirmations became a nightly ritual that both Weylie and her boyfriend now do together. ✨ Get pet insurance as soon as possible. It gives you options when your pet needs care. RESOURCES: FOLLOW: Weylie Hoang:Instagram: @Weylie YouTube: @Weylie Hoang FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen DVM, CVA 👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

For 50 years, we thought we knew what caused cancer. Billions of dollars in research, the entire human genome sequenced, all of it built on one assumption: cancer is a genetic disease. And then the data came back. And the data said we got it wrong. Dr. Loren Nations is a board-certified veterinary practitioner with almost 35 years in internal medicine, oncology, and cardiology. He's pioneered hyperbaric oxygen therapy, ketogenic nutrition, mistletoe therapy, and microbiome medicine in veterinary care. But what makes his story powerful isn't the credentials. It's the moment that changed everything. After three decades of practicing conventional medicine with tremendous success, he lost his wife to triple negative breast cancer. Five weeks from diagnosis to her passing. In the wake of that loss, he started asking questions the entire medical system had stopped asking: Why did the genetic theory fail? What's actually driving disease at the cellular level? And what would happen if we stopped treating symptoms and started optimizing the body's own metabolism instead? We talk about the health continuum from optimization to disease, why most wellness appointments aren't actually about wellness, and what it means to heal from the cellular level up. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Cancer is not a genetic disease. After 50 years of research based on the somatic mutation theory, the data showed no correlation between genetic abnormalities and cancer types. ✨ The real driver of cancer is metabolic dysfunction. Cells lose their ability to produce energy properly through mitochondrial damage and oxidative phosphorylation breakdown. ✨ Cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, autoimmune disease all share the same foundation: inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. ✨ The health continuum runs from optimization (Olympic athlete level) to wellness (healthy but room for improvement) to disease. Most pets live in the wellness space, not the optimization space. ✨ Wellness appointments as we know them (vaccines, parasite prevention, bloodwork) are maintenance, not optimization. They don't move the needle on metabolic health or longevity. ✨ Medicine 3.0 asks "why is this happening?" instead of just treating symptoms. It's about finding a cure for the cause, not a pill for the ill. ✨ Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used for acute inflammation, snake bites, non-healing wounds, pancreatitis, IBD, neurological issues, and even cancer therapy in Dr. Nations' practice. ✨ The gut microbiome is 25-50% of what's needed for optimal health. Pets don't get healthy microbes from kibble or sterile environments the way wild animals do. ✨ Metabolic health is the life force. It's the body's ability to convert and utilize energy. When that breaks down, disease follows. ✨ Vaccines were the foundation of veterinary medicine for decades. The profession is built on annual vaccines, and shifting that paradigm requires courage and scientific questioning. ✨ One flame can light the world by lighting one more flame at a time. Change happens through curiosity, courage, and community. RESOURCES: Veterinary Healthcare Associates (VHA): https://vhavets.com Instagram: @vhavets LinkedIn: Veterinary Healthcare Associates Facebook: Veterinary Healthcare Associates Contact: vhavets@vhavets.com Neoterric Institute: https://neoterric.com/ Instagram: @neoterricinstitute LinkedIn: Neoterric Institute Facebook: Neoterric Institute LLC Contact: support@neoterric.com COMING SOON: The Optimized Pet System (Canine Masterclass) — Online course for pet parents on how to optimize metabolic health FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Lily Chen DVM, CVA Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Sanjit Basak-Smith has been doing veterinary work since he was five years old when his father opened their family practice in 1997. He started with kennel work, moved to answering phones, and eventually became a veterinary technician working alongside his dad for years. About 10 years ago, Sanjit started specializing in integrated modalities like stem cell therapy, PRP, photobiomodulation, and microbiome medicine. And through that work, he helped transform his family's traditional Western practice into a local leader in integrative care. But here's where it gets really interesting. When Sanjit was about 12 years old, a doctor wanted to put him on steroids for his psoriasis. His father, a veterinarian, said absolutely not. He found a natural alternative and it worked. Years later, when Sanjit started working closely in the clinic, he noticed something he couldn't let go of. The same steroid his dad refused for his own son, he was prescribing to his patients every day. That one question changed the entire trajectory of their practice: Why is this okay for your patients, but not for your son? We talk about why probiotics alone aren't enough, what microbiome testing actually reveals, why your dog's skin problem might really be a gut problem, and how to start making changes that actually stick. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ If your pet doesn't have diarrhea, it doesn't mean the gut is fine. Skin issues, chronic allergies, and inflammation are often rooted in microbiome imbalance. ✨ The microbiome is responsible for breaking down food and regulating immune response. When it's off, symptoms show up everywhere. ✨ Probiotics are great for a healthy gut, but when there's dysbiosis, you need fecal transplant to reintroduce native bacteria the body actually needs. ✨ Prescription diets are meant to be used for 30 days to diagnose food allergies, not as a lifelong diet. ✨ Drugs like Apoquel and Cytopoint suppress the immune system. Never start them if infection is present. Microbiome testing helps identify hidden infections before starting immunosuppressants. ✨ Microbiome testing should be done preventively throughout a pet's life, just like bloodwork. It can detect issues before organs start failing. ✨ After antibiotics, use fecal transplant capsules for seven days to restore native bacteria. Probiotics alone won't reintroduce what was wiped out. ✨ Fresh food is superior to kibble. This isn't controversial anymore. Processed food and poor farming practices are affecting our pets' health. ✨ Sanjit's father was ready to sell the practice and leave veterinary medicine. Integrative medicine and microbiome treatment brought the love back and saved him from burnout. ✨ You are allowed to ask questions and advocate for your pet. A good vet will welcome that conversation. RESOURCES: Monroe Town and Country Veterinary Hospital: https://monroectvet.com Instagram: @monroetowncountryvet Animal Biome: https://www.animalbiome.com Instagram: @animal.biome/ FOR VETERINARIANS: Feeling stuck in the cycle of treating the same chronic cases with limited tools? Vets in Dr. Lily's first microbiome training cohort said learning this work literally saved them from burnout and brought the passion back to their practice. The Magic of Microbiome Course (Veterinary Microbiome Training): https://theunicorn.academy/ Learn how to: Interpret microbiome tests and create treatment plans Integrate fecal transplants into your practice Have confident nutrition conversations with clients Prevent disease before bloodwork shows organ damage See fewer chronic cases and more long-term healing FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet LinkedIn: Dr. Lily Chen 👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

I sat down with Claire Forsyth, a specialist animal kinesiologist with over 25 years of experience, knowing almost nothing about her work. What I got was one of the most fascinating conversations I've had on this show. Claire started in animal behavior, running dog training classes. And she kept noticing something she couldn't explain with training alone. Dogs and their people were walking the same way. Anxious about the same things. Even learning at the same pace. That led her to kinesiology, a practice that uses muscle testing to access the body's energy systems. Through precise protocols, Claire can identify the root emotional patterns driving an animal's behavior, trace them back to a specific age or wound, and then bring in the human. Because the animal and their person are almost always holding the same pattern. Not because the human is stressing the animal out. But because they found each other. Because something in this shared vibration drew them together. We talk about what a session looks like, how muscle testing works through a surrogate, why separation anxiety is actually an attachment problem, and the story of a Labrador named Gus that changed how I think about the bond between pets and their people. This one's going to stretch your mind a little. And I think that's a good thing. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Dogs and their people mirror each other in walk, limp, learning pace, and anxiety patterns. ✨ Muscle testing accesses chakras, meridians, and aura through the nervous system. Corrections include tuning forks, flower essences, essential oils, and energy healing. ✨ Animals aren't absorbing our stress. They mirror it. They found us because we share the same vibration, the same emotional wounding. ✨ Separation anxiety is not a training problem. It's an attachment problem. ✨ Gus's story: A Labrador with separation anxiety and his human Tina were both abandoned by their mothers. Both had insecure attachment. When Claire healed the abandonment wound for both, Gus stopped being destructive and Tina stopped over-functioning in relationships. ✨ We don't care enough about ourselves to heal. But for our animals, we'll explore all our emotions if it means they'll be okay. ✨ Conflicting emotions cause inflammation. When we hold two conflicting things, the conflict creates inflammation in the body. Animals hold these too. ✨ Claire works with animals worldwide online through Zoom or photographs. RESOURCES: Claire Forsyth: www.animalenergytherapies.com Instagram: @animalkinesiology Facebook: @animalenergytherapies The Animal Mirror Method: Learn muscle testing and explore shared emotional patterns FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet 👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Dr. Ruth Roberts has been practicing integrative veterinary medicine for over 30 years. She's the creator of The Original CrockPet Diet, which has helped thousands of pets with everything from kidney disease to cancer to chronic allergies. And she's the founder of the Holistic Pet Health Coach Certification Program, training a whole new generation of people to fill the massive gap in how our animals get care. But this conversation isn't just about what she's built. It's about what's broken in veterinary medicine and how we fix it. We talk about why your vet appointment feels so rushed, why you leave the clinic feeling like you still don't have answers, and why preventive medicine is still such a hard sell. We talk about the shift from pets as property to pets as family, how corporate consolidation is changing the care your animal receives, and why the real value isn't in prescription sales but in the doctor's brain sitting in front of you. We also get into the hard stuff. The animals that changed the course of our careers. The promise Dr. Ruth made to her dog Arnold when he died. The black lab named Lucy who taught me that I never wanted to euthanize another pet just for arthritis. And why coaches and veterinarians can actually work together instead of fighting each other. This one gets emotional. But it's also hopeful. Because Dr. Ruth isn't just talking about what's broken. She's building the bridge. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Veterinarians are overwhelmed. With corporate consolidation, many vets are seeing patients in as little as 6-minute appointments. The average is now 15-20 minutes. ✨ The shift from pets as property to pets as family happened fast. In 30 years, we went from dogs chained outside to dogs sleeping under the sheets with us. ✨ As pets became family, people wanted specialist care. But generalist vets started learning "here's when to refer" instead of "here's how to treat." ✨ Corporate veterinary medicine (Mars Pet Care and hedge funds) now owns 60% or more of veterinary practices. The motive has shifted. ✨ The real value isn't in prescription sales. It's in the veterinarian's brain and their ability to sit with you, listen, and guide you through your pet's health journey. ✨ AI recently scored 95-98% on Japan's veterinary board exam. Knowledge won't be the advantage anymore. Critical thinking, experience, and presence will be. ✨ Holistic Pet Health Coaches fill the gap. They sit with pet parents for an hour, help them navigate all the information from specialists, and create nutrition and supplement plans. ✨ The program is accredited for 40 hours of CE for vets and vet techs in the US and Canada. But most graduates are human health coaches, groomers, trainers, and pet sitters who see pets regularly and want to help. ✨ Some vets see coaches as competitors. But they're colleagues and allies. They free up the vet to stay in their zone of genius while the coach handles education and follow-up. ✨ Preventive medicine is the hardest sell. Human nature reacts to problems, not freight trains coming miles away. But if we can shift the train to another track before it reaches the station, we're miles ahead. ✨ The future: In 20 years, Dr. Ruth hopes we stop fighting to protect our dogma and start listening to each other. That we evaluate options purely on whether they help the animal in front of us. RESOURCES: Dr. Ruth Roberts: www.drruthroberts.com Find a Holistic Pet Health Coach: www.drruthroberts.com (Find a Coach tab) The Original CrockPet Diet : Home-cooked diet based on functional medicine and TCVM principles Holistic Pet Health Coach Certification Program : 16-week intensive program, accredited for 40 hours of CE Instagram: @dr.ruthroberts YouTube: Dr. Ruth Roberts Facebook: @crockpetdiet Tiktok: @dr.ruthroberts FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶

This is a quick conversation I had with Esa after we finished our rescue episode. She asked me the questions I think a lot of you might be wondering but maybe don't know how to ask. What am I most excited about in holistic medicine? What new modalities are coming to the practice? How did Integrative Pet Wellness Center even start, and why does it feel so different from a traditional vet hospital? I pull back the curtain a little bit. I talk about the bioresonance scans I'm obsessed with right now, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber I want to bring into the practice, and the hormone replacement therapy I think we've been overlooking in animals for way too long. I also share my origin story: why I started this practice, how I started it, and my story of doing house calls and how that shaped everything about the way I practice medicine today. We also talk about Remi's story. Remi came to me with a cough that lasted over a year. He'd done all the testing, all the diagnostics, all the medications. Nothing worked. We did one ozone UVBI treatment, and the cough was gone in seven days. One week. This is a quick conversation for anyone who's ever wondered what's possible beyond what's already been offered. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Bioresonance scans are the future of preventive medicine. They pick up frequency shifts in cells before disease manifests, allowing us to prevent cancer, immune issues, and slow aging. ✨ When a cell is diseased, it emits signals different from healthy cells. Bioresonance scans detect those signals using hair samples or saliva swabs, even for pets who live far away. ✨ Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is coming to the practice. Cellular oxygen is essential, and we are so depleted in modern life. ✨ Hormone replacement therapy is overlooked in animals. Pets spayed and neutered young miss critical developmental hormones, and hormone deficiencies contribute to many diseases we see in aging pets. ✨ Ozone UVBI therapy (ozone mixed with blood and activated with UV light) can resolve chronic issues conventional medicine can't touch. Remy's year-long cough disappeared in seven days with one treatment. ✨ The practice was built on the house call model. Dr. Lily saw that animals heal better in their own environment, so she created a clinic that feels like coming to her home. ✨ Trust is the foundation of healing. When people trust their vet enough to enter their personal space, that trust translates into better outcomes for the pet. ✨ Every team member at Integrative Pet Wellness Center found their way to the practice organically. Dr. Lily has never placed an ad or actively recruited anyone. ✨ We're all on the same team. The best outcomes happen when clients trust their vet, vets trust their clients, and everyone is working toward the same goal: the pet's health. RESOURCES: Bioresonance Testing: Non-invasive scans using hair samples or saliva swabs to detect frequency imbalances in the body (available at Integrative Pet Wellness Center) Ozone UVBI Therapy: Ozone mixed with blood and activated with UV light for chronic immune issues, infections, and inflammation (available at Integrative Pet Wellness Center) FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Most of us can't imagine doing rescue work the way Esa Van Dusen does. This isn't about fostering a dog here and there. This is about finding a pit bull chained to a tree with no access to water. Getting a video of a terrified dog living in spray paint cans and bushes. Driving straight into a hurricane to pull animals out of abandoned boarding kennels. Esa has been rescuing animals for 15 years in Austin and LA. She's a digital writer, advertiser, energy healer, and someone who shows up for animals in ways most people never will. Her vision? A healing sanctuary ranch for animals and people. But this conversation isn't about feel-good adoption photos. It's about the real version of rescue. The version where you have to reconcile with the fact that you cannot save them all. The version where you sit in your car crying because the weight of it is too much. And the version where you learn to follow the energy of one. Esa found a blind and deaf Catahoula dog (originally called Possum) in an abandoned kennel during a hurricane and found her a magical home with two Australian Shepherd brothers where she's still thriving today. But here's what makes this conversation so important: we talked about the reality. Suffering is inevitable. We're not always in charge. We can't decide the outcome. The work isn't about saving them all. It's about showing up for the one right in front of you and trusting that something bigger might be running in the background. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Follow the energy of one animal at a time. 100% of the time, a miracle happens when you do. ✨ Suffering is inevitable. We're not in charge of the outcome, but we can show up for the animal right in front of us. ✨ You can't be helpful if you're sitting in your car crying. Develop the strength to do this work without burning out. ✨ Every single breed is represented in rescue right now. Wiener dogs, doodles, even "bulletproof" breeds that used to never end up in shelters. ✨ The overbreeding crisis means perfectly good family dogs are being euthanized, not because they're difficult, but because there's no room. ✨ Petfinder is still one of the best resources to find rescue dogs by breed, location, and specific traits. ✨ Private rescues are foster-based and easier to volunteer with than municipal shelters. Look for breed-specific Facebook groups and Instagram communities. ✨ You don't have to foster to help. Volunteer at adoption events, transport dogs, share posts on social media, donate supplies, or network for animals who need homes. ✨ Not all rescues are created equal. Some run like businesses, some are emotionally charged. Find one that matches your energy and values. ✨ Rehoming is the closest option to rescue. If you know a family rehoming their dog, help them network to find a new home before the shelter becomes the only option. ✨ Saving one dog will not change the world, but for that one dog, the world has changed. RESOURCES: Adoption & Rescue Search: Petfinder: www.petfinder.com (search rescue dogs by breed) Rescue Organizations: Austin Pets Alive: www.austinpetsalive.org (incredible rescue organization) A Purposeful Rescue: www.apurposefulrescue.org (organization that needs volunteers) Hollywood Huskies: @hollywoodhuskies (Instagram) Community Resources: Nextdoor: Find local rescue activity, rehoming opportunities, and animal lovers in your community Facebook & Instagram: Search breed-specific rescue groups (e.g., "Dachshund Rescue Southern California") CONTACT ESA: If you have questions about rescue, fostering, or need guidance on where to start, Esa is happy to help. Instagram: @esavandusen Phone: 512 775 6999 Email: esa1010@gmail.com FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet 👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

What if the most powerful medicine for your pet isn't a supplement or a drug, but something as simple as light? Jackie Jolie, founder of AnimaSol, believes light is the foundation of health. Every cell in every mammal's body has a light sensor called a melanopsin, waiting to receive information from photons. And yet, we and our pets are spending 98% of our lives indoors, cut off from the very thing our DNA was built to run on. Jackie spent 15 years as an equine and canine bodyworker. But in 2018, after being diagnosed with Lyme disease, she rebuilt her health using natural treatments and something she calls a light life: reconnecting to sunlight, circadian rhythms, grounding, and red and near infrared light therapy. She says she runs better at 42 than she did in her twenties. That personal transformation became AnimaSol, a company that creates battery-operated, full-body red and near infrared light therapy blankets for horses, dogs, and cats. This conversation goes deep into the science of light, the difference between lasers and LEDs, which wavelengths actually penetrate to bone and nerve, and how to choose a safe device in a market flooded with cheap knockoffs. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Every mammal cell has a melanopsin, a light sensor waiting to respond to photons. Light is foundational to health. ✨ Red wavelengths penetrate 5-10 mm into tissue for surface healing. Near infrared penetrates 50 mm down to nerve, bone, and bone marrow. ✨ The 810 nm wavelength penetrates the cranium and vertebrae, effective for cognitive issues, head trauma, IVDD, and paralysis. ✨ LEDs vs. lasers: LEDs deliver the same benefits with zero thermal effect, no burns, and no risk of harm. ✨ Contact method matters. Red light therapy is most effective when the device is in direct contact with the skin. ✨ Cancer and red light: After 40 years of use, no documented cases of LED therapy causing cancer or accelerating tumors. ✨ New studies show red and near infrared light therapy reduces IBS and IBD symptoms and increases beneficial gut bacteria. ✨ Light therapy activates acupuncture points in 30-45 seconds, ideal for needle-shy animals or at-home maintenance. RESOURCES: AnimaSol Website: www.animasol.life Instagram: @anima__sol Linktree: https://linktr.ee/animasol Email: info@animasol.life (Jackie personally answers all emails) PRODUCTS: EquiSoul (red light therapy blanket for horses) DogSoul (red light therapy blanket for dogs) CatPad (red light therapy pad for cats and small animals) Handheld Torch (activates acupuncture points in 30 seconds) Human blanket launching April 2026 SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS: Use code IntegrativePetSol at www.animasol.life for 10% off 💡FREE GUIDE FOR PET PARENTS: Curious about red light therapy for your pet? Dr. Lily Chen and Jackie Jolie put together a free guide that covers everything you need to know. Inside you'll find how red and near-infrared light works, which wavelengths actually matter, a 7-point device checklist, and a condition reference guide for arthritis, IVDD, skin allergies, gut health, and more. 👉 Download your free copy here FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Integrative Pet Wellness Center on Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen on Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

In Part 1, we talked about the cases that changed us. In Part 2, we're talking about what needs to change in veterinary medicine. Dr. Judy Morgan doesn't hold back. We go deep into the drugs that concern us most, why prescription diets were only supposed to be temporary fixes, and how corporate medicine is reshaping the profession in ways that aren't always serving pets or their parents. We also talk about something I wasn't expecting to discuss: the system itself. Emergency hospitals diverting patients because they're too full. Specialists who only work eight to four, Monday through Friday. Bills that reach thousands of dollars for supportive care alone. And the uncomfortable reality that a corporate executive admitted to me over dinner that they wouldn't take their own dog to their own hospital because of the cost. But this conversation isn't just about what's broken. It's about what the future could look like when pet parents are educated, empowered, and asking better questions. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Isoxazoline flea and tick preventatives are neurotoxins, and it took years to get that on the label. ✨ Prescription diets were meant to be used for 30 days, not for life. They're a short-term fix while you address the root cause. ✨ You can't outsupplement a bad diet. Food is the foundation of everything. ✨ How to afford fresh food: Buy whole animals from local farmers, join co-ops, use base mixes and add your own meat, or feed nutrient-dense foods that require half as much. ✨ The veterinary system is breaking: emergency hospitals diverting patients, specialists only working weekdays, and pricing so extreme that financial euthanasia is now a reality. ✨ Corporate medicine is driving burnout: support staff cut, quotas imposed, relationships become transactional instead of trust-based. ✨ Dr. Judy's mission: Educate and empower pet parents to make good decisions and stand up for the health of their pets. RESOURCES: Website: NaturallyHealthyPets.com Dr. Judy Morgan: www.drjudymorgan.com Dr. Judy U (University) : courses on holistic pet care, hospice, and palliative care Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudyMorganDVM Instagram: @drjudymorgan YouTube: @DrJudyMorgan ✨SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS: Use code MYDOG10 at NaturallyHealthyPets.com for 10% off RECOMMENDED BOOKS (all 9 books available at DrJudyMorgan.com or Amazon ) : Keeping Your Pets Naturally Healthy From Needles to Natural And 7 more books on holistic pet care RECOMMENDED RESOURCES: Susan Thixton's List: TruthAboutPetFood.com FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

What happens when one of the most influential voices in holistic veterinary medicine walks into the biggest conventional veterinary conference in the world? I spotted Dr. Judy Morgan at VMX in Orlando, and honestly, I had to do a double take. Here was a woman who has dedicated nearly 40 years to transforming pet wellness, walking confidently into rooms full of conventional practitioners, educating veterinary students who are hungry for a different approach, and bridging the gap between traditional and holistic care. This conversation is about the turning points. The German Shepherd who couldn't walk and then ran down the hallway five minutes after his first chiropractic adjustment. The practice that was the biggest seller of prescription diets in the country and put almost every dog and cat on one. The chronic ear infections, skin problems, and smelly animals that never got better no matter what conventional medicine threw at them. Dr. Judy and I couldn't stop talking, so we split this into two parts. Part 1 is about how we got here and what broke us in conventional medicine. Part 2, coming next week, is where things get real: the food industry, the drugs we wish didn't exist, and the uncomfortable truth about the veterinary business model. KEY INSIGHTS: ✨ Dr. Judy Morgan became a vet at 12 when a veterinarian performed surgery on her gimpy show pony, inspiring her to help animals the same way. ✨ The turning point: A 100-pound German Shepherd that couldn't walk came in for treatment. After chiropractic adjustments, the dog jumped up and ran down the hallway 5 minutes later. ✨ Why conventional medicine felt broken: Every month, the same chronic ear infections, the same skin problems, the same smelly, itchy animals with no real improvement. ✨ The prescription diet problem: Dr. Judy worked at a practice that was the biggest seller of prescription diets in the country. Almost every single dog and cat was on one, including puppies on PD and seniors on GD. ✨ Prescription diets are meant to be used for 30 days, not for life. They're a short-term fix while you address the root cause, not a lifetime sentence. ✨ One client unknowingly starved their dog to death on RD (reducing diet) because no one followed up to reweigh the animal for a year. ✨ Integrated medicine in action: Dr. Judy's cat developed severe neurologic symptoms with sky-high white blood cell counts. She used steroids short-term to save the cat's life, then weaned onto natural anti-inflammatories like PEA and mushrooms. ✨ The frustration of conventional medicine: Limited tools, antibiotics that barely worked, chronic problems that never resolved, and side effects from every medication. ✨ Emergency medicine was the exception: Dr. Judy loved emergency work because it was rapid-fire problem-solving with immediate results, not chronic symptom management. ✨ The vision came early: As a child, Dr. Judy dreamed of a future where people could see into her life and watch videos of what she was doing. Now millions follow her work online. ✨ Integrated doesn't mean anti-science: It means using everything available to actually heal, not just suppress symptoms. RESOURCES: Website: NaturallyHealthyPets.com Dr. Judy Morgan: www.drjudymorgan.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudyMorganDVM Instagram: @drjudymorgan YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrJudyMorgan SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS: Use code MYDOG10 at NaturallyHealthyPets.com for 10% off any purchase (supplements, dental health formulas, books, and more) RECOMMENDED BOOKS: Keeping Your Pets Naturally Healthy From Needles to Natural And 7 more books available at DrJudyMorgan.com or Amazon FOLLOW: Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Integrative Pet Wellness Center on Instagram: @integrativepet Dr. Lily Chen on Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛