Paws, Reflect & Heal with Dr. Randy

Dr. Christine Colamonico eats what?!

• Dr. Randy Pet Vet • Episode 12

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0:00 | 46:36

This was such a fun conversation with Dr. Christine Colamonico, veterinarian and co-founder of Jope. We talk about bias in research, how Jope supplements were created, mine and Dr. Colamonico's recommendations for pet owners, and more.

To learn more about Jope, visit petjope.com and connect with Dr. Colamonico and Jope at:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/christine-colamonico
Instagram & Facebook: @petjope
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCetiavZ9mAQLUNIgod92Zbw

Don't forget to snag some of the best pet supplements on the market at petjope.com 🐾

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Products and Resources I Recommend
Microbiome Testing
Animal Biome - Gut Microbiome Health Test

Nutrition
K9 Natural

Feline Natural

Just for Dogs
Farmers Dog

Other...

SPEAKER_01:

Good morning and welcome to Pause Reflect and Heal with Dr. Randy. Welcome to our show. We're so excited today to have an incredible guest who has agreed to be with us, Dr. Christine Kolomanico, and we're going to talk a lot about joint health, joint mobility, and ways that we can make our dogs move much, much better and feel much better. Dr. Christine, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Well, thank you very much for having me today. I truly appreciate it. It's always a pleasure to speak with you, Dr. Ramdi.

SPEAKER_01:

And you also. I want to remind everybody that Pause, Reflect, and Heal, we focus on pet wellness and longevity where we can help your pets live healthier, happier lives, so you can too. And that's the game plan because if our our dogs are feeling good, we're feeling good. And uh this person who we're talking to is going to really help us on that end and has really made a big difference in my practice. So, Dr. Christine, will you uh give our listeners a little bit uh background on yourself and tell everybody kind of where you came from and how you ended up with doing what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I I always love uh you know giving it a bit of background about Job and how I came to meet you too, Dr. Randy. So um Christine Karamonico, I'm a veterinarian, graduated from the Vet School of Toulouse in France about 10 years ago. Um I practiced in France and clinical practice, and then I decided to come to the US to live the American dream, which is very much so alive in my opinion. And I started working for a pharmaceutical industry, and then I also work for one of the group that has multiple clinics in the area of New York. Um, so I had just a very interesting career path, and today I'm the co-founder of Jope, which stands for Joy of Pets, and we're a pet wellness company with a focus on nutraceutical and treats. Right now we have one mobility product, which is a joint supplement that doesn't use the traditional ingredients that are found most commonly in joint supplements for dogs, so we can go over the specifics. And the whole reason I decided with my co-founder who's also a vet to create Jope is because I actually had a personal encounter with the damages that decreased mobility can have in a companion. So my dog, Pepsi, who was my childhood dog growing up, he was a very active dog, and at the end of his life, he was diagnosed with very severe osteoarthritis. Um, and so I really saw the damage that that can have on quality of life, uh, on overall health for him, but also for the family, um, and how certain solutions, especially you know, supplements, can really help enhance and complement a multimodal approach. And then through my journey with Jope, I also discovered the benefits that it can have uh when you choose a quadity supplement for preventative medicine, which I think is what you're really interested in too, Dr. Randy.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. Um we're so fortunate to have Dr. Christine with us because her journey is not unusual. We at Paw's Veterinary Center here in Tucson, Arizona, see uh a plethora of older dogs and cats uh with osteoarthritis, and it's a sometimes a silent disease in some of our pets. Uh, we're gonna talk mostly about dogs today, but in cats it's it's very silent. Cats don't tend to show their problems with this uh this degradation of their joints or inflammation that's going on. But our dogs definitely show signs, and many of our astute clients will pick these things up very early in their lives. And our focus and Dr. Christine's focus and mine is not only to help these pets but to really get the quality of our animals' lives increased so that hopefully we're not facing the severity of the osteoarthritis that we see. I mean, I tell a lot of our large animal dog owners, pet parents, that uh, you know, many times it's osteoarthritis that ends the dog's life because they're so uncomfortable, they're so painful, they're not able to do their normal types of things, and we really want to work on improving that. One of the things that Dr. Christine emphasized and talked about was this multimodal approach, and this is very important in the life of an integrated veterinarian because I tell people when we used to have just Western techniques, you know, it worked, but we were putting out fly fires and we really were never getting to that wellness and quality of life state a lot of times. But now, with integrative medicine and the ability to talk about non-inflammatory diets, work on exercise and and and rehabilitation therapy, and then adding uh some incredible supplements like my kitty coming through, uh like Dr. Christine's product joke, we are really getting ahead of the game where we're really seeing some phenomenal changes in our pets, and our our uh the pleasure that it brings all of us is so great. So uh thank you for your your work. Um I'd love to know from you, Dr. Christine, how did Jope come about? I mean, how did you you you talked a story about Pepsi? You know, most of our travels in veterinary medicine often emanate from our own pets, or ourselves for that matter. And so uh, you know, a very common story. But tell us a little bit about how when you were looking for development of this product or or ideas, how how did it come? How did it how did it come about to you guys?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so um it kind of really started with Pepsi, although at the time I didn't really realize that it would lead me to dope. Um so what happened is I was in bed school and Pepsi was diagnosed with severe OA, and we started a lot of different approaches to help improve his quality of life and make sure that his final month would be comfortable and that he would be able to be a dog and enjoy his life. And so I was doing you know physiotherapy, um, some NSAD because he was very painful, and that's when I started exploring the world of supplements, and I literally at the time was in med school and tried everything, and that's how I ended up discovering that although glucosamine, chondratine did not work for Pepsi, um, I actually ended up finding UC2 collagen, and I combined it through trial and error with omega-3s and curcumin using research, talking to other vets, and just figuring out a way. I was kind of desperate, and I would have done anything for Pepsi. So I was able to find these ingredients and you know, trying to figure out the right dosing and to give them to Pepsi. And what I did notice is that although it didn't, you know, bring Pepsi back to the pup I used to know with whom I used to run for miles, um, it did give him more energy. He was more back to himself, and we were also able to decrease the amount of NSAID, and he was just like a happier dog, and the impact was quite you know significant for me and my family. And so once Pepsi unfortunately still had to, you know, go on and he passed away. Um I had this experience in the back of my mind, but you know, I was a young vet out of ed school, so I still didn't really know where I was gonna go, and that's how I ended up coming to the US, worked in pharma, went to clinics, so I was a sales representative. Every day I would go and practice, and I would always, like in my heart, I still had a special place for supplements because of my experience, and so I would look, you know, what's on the shelf, what is being recommended. Some people would ask me, and that's where I realized that like 90% of the products out there use glucosamine and chondroitine. And also, I was very surprised to discover when I moved to the US that the pet nutraceutical industry is not actually regulated. So, although what is present on the shelves in veterinary medicine, so in your practice, for example, Dr. Randy, is is vetted and is high quality, unfortunately, there's a lot more out there that does not meet quality standards that we would want for dogs or cats or patients. Um, one thing that is shocking, for example, I don't know if you've ever done this experience, but if you go on Amazon and you type joint supplement for dogs, there's literally 94 pages of supplement. Really? I kid you not.

SPEAKER_01:

I I had no idea it was that much. I would have guessed, you know, 30, but uh that's amazing. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and so so that's where, you know, based on my experience wanting to help animals, I wasn't able to practice in the US being a French veterinarian, but I just I wanted to do more, and that's how the idea of job came about. Of I had an experience with uh ingredients that really changed Pepsi that weren't being used, that weren't available in a combination in the US. And I just thought, you know, why why not? Sure, sure. So that's kind of the reason. Then I I spoke to my co-founder who knew me at the time with Pepsi, um, and we just wanted to, you know, get on our own adventure, create a company that what we want to do is really be rooted in science, so choose our ingredients using an evidence-based approach. So studies, dosing that are therapeutic according to studies, um, quantity. So we you know we make the product in the US, very stringent quantities, third-party lab tested, and then bring something to market that is very different from what is available to help more pet parents care for their animals.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, we um we as veterinarians and the public know a lot about glucosamine and chondroitin. It's it's hammered home a lot in a lot of different ways and and multiple supplements, as you know, that uh I didn't know quite as many were available on Amazon, but we know there are a lot out there. There's there's good research, and this is where you founded uh you know the part of this product, the ultra-collagen 2. But there have been good research papers recently about ultra-collagen 2 uh getting into the the joint versus glucosamine or chondroitin. Speak a little bit about that. Where did where is the difference there so people can understand? Because the first place that most of my pet parents go is glucosamine and chondroitin, obviously.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and you know, glucosamine and chondritin, they were the first ingredients for joint health and animal um medicine. So it's not surprising that they are the most popular ingredients. However, if you look at studies, there's many studies that are showing glucosamine and chondritine are actually no more effective than a placebo, which is unfortunate when you know that it's one of the biggest categories that people purchase for their animals. Um and so when you we looked at the studies, so to formulate uh joke, we looked at all the studies available, and there's actually nine studies on UC2 in dogs specifically, including one that uses ground force plate. So that means that um they the scientific the scientists use the device, which is like a long yoga mat, and the dog walks on the mat. And depending on the pain that they're um uh feeling or the comfort that they have, they can put more or less pressure on their joints, and when they walk, there's detectors that are able to measure the pressure applied on the paws. And so that study showed that UC2 helped improve by 42% the pressure that dogs were able to put on their paws. Uh, and that study was was conducted on 150 days, and the first changes were seen at 60 days. Wow. Um, so it really starts like you see benefits, and then so there's a lot of studies in dogs that all have positive conclusions. There's also a review that was conducted. So a review study is where you look at all the studies available on a specific ingredient, for example, and you draw conclusions. And so the conclusions are very positive, and you were asking, you know, what's the difference? How does it work, and why are these studies so powerful and the conclusions so impressive, is because actually UC2, um, so undenatured type 2 collagen doesn't have to be absorbed in order to benefit our patients or dogs. So what happens is that UC2, undonatured type 2 collagen is the same type of collagen that you and I have in our cartilage or dogs have in their cartilage. So what happens is that when there's pressure and stress on the joints, the cartilage breaks down and releases under nature type 2 collagen in the synovial fluid, which is in the joint. And the body is able to detect that type 2 collagen. So when you're supplementing with type 2 collagen orally, what happens is UCD travels through the gut and meets a specific part of the immune system where it will activate it in order to redirect the inflammatory response when the body detects type 2 collagen free in the joint. So it's like a it's like a retroactive um loop, right? Right, right. The body detects type 2 collagen because it's eating, it's ingesting, and it is detecting in the stomach type 2 collagen that is being given as a supplement with joke, for example, it activates the immune system. And instead of saying, okay, let's create inflammation, it actually says, let's limit inflammation, let's redirect the inflammatory response to be healthy.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, and so that's great. No, it's great. Keep on going. I I love this. This is great. I'm glad you're sharing this because I'm learning too.

SPEAKER_00:

So and and instead of um so glucosamine on the other hand and chondruitine, um, we don't really know how it works, but the idea is that uh they bring the building blocks and so they need to be absorbed and processed in hopes they will find their way to the joint and maybe help the patient. But there's the studies just like are not able to find an agreed-upon mechanism of action for glucosamine and chondratine. And I know there's also a question of bioavability, meaning, is the dog or bodies able to process those ingredients in order to be able to use them properly. Right. And studies are suggesting not as much.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think you know that's that's fascinating because when we talk about the inflammatory response, part of the multimodal uh therapy that I want our listeners to know about when we incorporate joke into our program is we're looking at teaching our pet parents about non-inflammatory type diets, where we're looking at uh limiting the uh simple carbohydrates that are available, uh, making sure that there's really high quality protein and fat that's available for our pets. Many of our senior patients, and and I am directing some of this to our seniors, but many of our senior patients show muscle mass loss or muscle atrophy. And we want to make sure that we're supporting uh those muscles while we're supporting the joint at the same time. And and our goal is always to limit the inflammatory situation as much as possible. Sometimes we do that specifically through diet. Uh sometimes we actually incorporate microbiome in there so that we're making sure that all of the good and bad bacteria are balanced so we don't have a big inflammatory response in the GI tract, which is 70% of our pet's immune system. So that when we speak about moltimodal, that's part of it. We also in our world incorporate rehabilitation therapy so that we're getting these animals moving in heated underwater treadbill water. We're we're using laser or PEMF, uh pulse electric magnetic therapy, sometimes prolozone, and some of these other ideas which really can help. But JOPEP has been a great addition, and we have definitely seen in those cases where we've switched from a very name brand, very popular glucosamine product to Jope, that our clients have stated uh that they definitely see improvement in the in the pet. And any, you know, my feeling as an integrated vet is anytime I can throw something at a pet, and I don't mean that literally, but you use something in a pet that will help, that is uh certainly research that is uh non-toxic, that we don't have to worry about other issues with, then I will I will definitely do that because we want to use as much as we possibly can. Because uh Dr. Christina explained, like in Pepsi, Pepsi, that we um that she had she was able to limit the amount of NSAIDs, which are what we call non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Typically, people know that as Rimidil or carprofen or vetprofen or deremax. And these are liver toxic, they also can irritate the stomach, uh their cox inhibitors. So anything we can do again to lower those types of Western products with supplements and diet, we we want to do. So uh it's great to have JOPE as an addition to our arm and batterium as we talk about it. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course, and um I I think I should also mention probably that we launched a double-blinded placebo controlled trial with JOPE. Um, and we want to enroll 60 dogs, so it's an independent animal hospital which is leading the study, meaning we don't have control over it, we can't, you know, influence the results. But that launched in January of this year, 2024. So we're very hopeful that we will have a tenth study on UC2 and that it will be our product. So we're very excited about that, and I'll of course share the results with you, but I have to be a bit patient because I think it will take a year.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, no, I get it, I get it. And and uh um and I I want to go double back again on something you said just now. People have to understand that in the research world, because I was involved in that in medical research before I got into veterinary school, many of these studies are sponsored by uh companies that want to obtain great information and prove that their products will work. Obviously, they don't want to hear about not working or side effects. And so, you know, I don't want to, you know, some some research can be tainted, and people have to understand that there could be a bias, and that bias could really be very strong. You know, I remember doing a study for Johnson ⁇ Johnson, and it was about a drug that was supposed to be for helping uh the respiratory system in humans, and you know, there was the way that the study was put together and directed, it would bias the idea of you know that this product would really make a big difference and would very much hide some of the other issues. And people have to understand that we see this in the veterinary world, and and that wasn't a malicious thing on Johnson Johnson's part. In fact, the researcher I worked with declined to do the study for that reason. And um, and but this happens, and we do see that. Uh, I also want to mention that a lot of products, sometimes on some of these uh third party parties like Amazon and whatnot, you have to be careful because we've seen products. That look like the product that you want to buy, and it's actually a black market product. And people say, well, this thing is not working. Well, it's not working because it's not what you were supposed to get. And so be very careful about where these products come from and look very closely at the packaging because we've seen it look incredibly close, uh, but definitely different. And I always want to make our listeners aware, this is part of what we do at Pause Reflect and Heal, is make sure we spread this information so we're doing all of the correct things to help our pets.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I agree with you, Dr. Randy, and I will actually even add to that, if I may, um, there are a lot of people trying to scam others out there, unfortunately. So we actually have clients sometimes who will email us to say, hey, I saw your product, for example, on Amazon. Is it you setting or should I be worried? And they check in with us just to make sure. And I think that's a very good thing to do because somebody once checked in with us for another uh website, which ended up being a total scam. So it's a website that sells product uh but that they don't actually deliver on the the products they represent, and they're not affiliated at all with our brand, for example. And so it's you know, if you're buying something on Amazon or on a platform that maybe isn't directly from the brand itself, you can also check just to make sure, and the brand should be able to know who they're partnering with. So I would say that's a good way also to have an idea. Um, and then of course there's like seals, you know, that of quantity. Uh you know, you can always also email the manufacturer, and we have people asking us about like the ingredients we use, where do they come from, if we have a certificate of analysis, and all that, you you know, you are allowed as a consumer to ask.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yeah. But it it again it the preponderance of that is placed on the consumer. So you really want to be an advocate for yourself and your pets, especially when you're obtaining these supplements, because obviously we don't want to do any harm, and if we're trying to obtain uh a great outcome, we want the product. I mean, if we don't have that product, we can't judge it on that way. Um talk a little bit about um some of the certification of the product jope, uh, you know, the NASC, let's say, or the quality analysis. This is very important because people need to understand how rigorous uh a quality company like Pet Jope is to bring the product to the market that's actually what it is.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so um for the certification, there's a again, so just to back up for a second, there's actually no entity in the US that regulates pet nutraceutical. So the FDA and USDA are not um entities that oversee what we do. And there is, however, an association which is called the NASC, so it's the National Animal Supplement Council, and they help establish guidelines and quality products. So, for example, we do not have the seal on our packaging yet because it does take time, and as a young brand, it's not something that you can do overnight. However, we are um speaking to them, we are in the process of getting it. So if you have a product that has the NASC seal, for example, that is an indication that the product is of a certain standard. If a product doesn't have that seal, it doesn't mean that they don't have quality because there are other SEOs out there too, and you can also email them and ask them maybe they're in the process of getting certified, maybe they you know have another certification. But I do think an ASC is you know one to look out for. Also, even asking where is the product manufactured, right? Like is it in the US or is it outside of the US? Um, if you manufacture in the US, most companies will have to be like SQF compliant, have GMP, so these are like practices to manufacture product which has certain standards, they look for certain pathogens, they look for certain uh toxic um uh substances. Um, so it guarantees you a certain quantity of the product you're putting out there, too. Um, and you also can look at other certifications like sustainability. Uh we're currently working on getting uh organic certification as well, because our product has 80% organic ingredients. So until we have the certification, we cannot display it. Uh however, if somebody asks us, we can say that you know we do have that certification as well. So I think it is about looking if a product has certification, that's a great sign. If it's made in the US, it's a great sign. We also third-party uh test every single one of our batches. There's no certificate for this. However, for example, if you email us, you have a batch number, you want the certificate of analysis, we will give it to you, we can send it. Um, so that's another gauge of quality. Um, so I do think, you know, like looking out for seals, but also emailing the companies and asking your veterinarian, right? Like, Dr. Randy, we went to school because we care about pets, because we're invested. So we always tell our customers, for example, you know, this is our label, please share with your veterinarian, let them confirm that they feel comfortable. Do you have any more questions? We really try to keep an open communication to uh answer any question they have, give them gauge of quality that they might not find with other brands. And a lot of people do appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And and this is very important because uh, you know, not only is what uh Dr. Christine and and Pet Joe uh what they're going through to to mention all these things, but it's expensive and it's time consuming. And these are not always the things that a lot of companies will do. They they may skip some of these steps or they may uh bypass some of it. You know, when you mentioned um being produced in the United States, interesting, uh just to kind of give you a sidebar example. People come to me about uh rawhide chews, and I I'm always very cautious about rawhide in our pets. And it says on the bag, you know, they bring me this bag and it says made in the United States. Well, it could be put together in the United States, but all of the ingredients are coming from the Pacific Rim or South America, where there have been indications of that pet hide uh having salmonella, let's say, or some other possibilities that's not mentioned in the product and it's not mentioned on the bag, so people feel that they're very safe. So doing a little bit of research, like Dr. Christine mentioned, is is quite good. And and Dr. Christine's always been very open, uh, checking with her, talking to her. I will tell you, knowing her, she's out there at all, you know, a lot of the trade shows and and seminars and and speaking and being available. And someone that is putting that much effort uh deserves a lot of credit, and you do deserve that. And and it, you know, it is a great product. So it all speaks for itself, but there people sometimes don't realize how much is involved of getting that type of a product to the market uh with its efficacy and whatnot. So thank you for all that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thanks for saying it. You know, it is nice. We are out there like educating uh clients but also vets, going to trade show, and it is super fun, but I do, you know, it is tiring and I appreciate it when other people appreciate what we do. Um, that we're not, you know, just relying on marketing, we're actually going ourselves to educate. And there's never a question that I will refuse to answer. Like we really want to be transparent, and so if you have a question and I don't know the answer, I will get it for you. Uh, we even had clients ask about specific testing. So, for example, as a supplement company, we don't actually need to have a guaranteed analysis when it comes to uh you know, like the no a percentage of fat, the per the number of calories, the proteins. This is not a requirement, but we had people asking because their dog has specific condition, and so we actually went submitted our sample to a third-party lab, and now we know how many cataries are in our chews, for example. Uh 14, if you're wondering. So good. Yeah, per chew. So um we feel like it's you know it's reasonable because you're getting one or two or three chew, depending on the size. Um, so it should be very reasonable, but we will go the extra step for our clients, our veterinarians, um, if they ask us to.

SPEAKER_01:

So I've had a number of people ask me in my practice because uh we're we're always dealing with allergy and especially food-related allergies. We we do a lot of food sensitivity testing through a company called Nutriscan and Dr. Gene Dodd's, uh, very, very successful organization, a very big help to me. People ask about uh the possibility of allergy with the the joke chew. Is there a concern there that you that you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00:

So we um don't have any protein in our chews that are from animal origin except for type 2 collagen. Um so I would say so, even our fish oil doesn't have protein. So if your dog has fish oil allergies or fish allergies, you can give them joke because they don't have protein that they would potentially be triggered by. Sure. Um for the type 2 collagen, it does come from chicken's sternum. Um, however, because type 2 collagen is the protein that is most present in cartilage, but not so much so in the meat, which is what we give to our dogs, right? It's unlikely, in our opinion, that a dog would eat enough cartilage to have been sensitized to type 2 collagen. Um, and there's only 20 milligram per chew as well. So there's like thousands of milligrams of glucosamine and chondratin when you take a glucosamine and chondratine product. For us, it's 20 milligram. And the final reason I would feel very comfortable, of course, you know, if your dog had a very severe chicken allergy, I would probably tread carefully. But if your dog is overall healthy, uh, you know, does maybe have some diarrhea with chicken, um, I would feel very comfortable for the third reason being that UC2 is not absorbed.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So again, UC2 is ingested, but it stays in the stomach, interacts with the immune system, which you were referring to, Dr. Randy, um, and then it is excreted in in the poop.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And I will tell you, uh, on personal experience, I've had a number of uh chicken uh sensitivity animals which we and where we've used Jope, and there have been absolutely no problem whatsoever. So um I agree for all the reasons that you elucidated that it's probably a very unlikely situation. We can we can never say never, but but um I we just don't see it. So it's it's really not an issue, but I'm glad we talked about it because people always ask that question, especially when their dogs are have had specific food sensitivities.

SPEAKER_00:

Of course, and and I do think you know, be be gentle in the approach. So if maybe your dog, for example, needs three chews, start with one, see how they do. Um and we do offer, and I'm sure you know Dr. Randy, but let's say one of your clients was unhappy because they took DOPE, the dog re they didn't want to eat it or had diarrhea, and for some reason they don't want to continue, we will refund you and your clients. So we want to make sure that every patient or dog that takes dope is happy that the client is happy too. So if for any reason um our customers are not satisfied, we have a hundred percent satisfaction guarantee because I've been through it with Pepsi and I did not like fighting with him. Um so if it doesn't work for you, you know, we move on. And uh we're very happy you tried it, but sometimes like everything, it can't always be for everybody 100% of the time. But we do have a very high petitivity rate, and generally speaking, very great feedback.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I will tell you that um I haven't had a um an animal yet in my practice when we've used it that has refused to eat it, which is wonderful. So, and I can't say that very often, so that that's a that's a great thing too.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I have it for breakfast sometimes, so you know I really don't need it.

SPEAKER_01:

You chewing the chew?

SPEAKER_00:

I I have to because you know I want to know what I'm selling. So I did uh I I do try actually every batch we get a bag sent to us to make sure that you know the consistency is good, and I think it's maybe the vet in me. I'm like, I have to know what my dogs are eating. So I I taste one only. Yeah. Um do not recommend doing it peas. This is meant for animals, of course. Um, but it is, you know, it it tastes actually pretty pretty good. It's just a bit big for me, like the size, you know, of the chew is a bigger too big for human. Yeah. Um, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. No, I I I I we often did that. I I think one of my most favorite technicians, and she's still a favorite person in my life, uh, when she was working with me, would try every single thing that we did for pets, as far as you know, baked treats or anything that came into the practice, she would sample first, and uh, and we would get a good readout on where that was. So it was kind of fun. So um, question about um future for pet joke. Um, what what are you looking at? Um I often get the question, will there be a cat product? Um tell us about where and if you can, whatever you can share with us at this point.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so we um we will come out with a cat product, and actually joke can be used in cats um at one true per day. Um however, palatability being more studied for dogs, um I wouldn't guarantee a cat will eat it, but we do have some cats taking it, and it's one true per day. Uh UC2 doesn't have studies in cats, so I can't say based on studies, however, based on anecdotal data, they seem to do well on UC2. And UC2 can be used in human horses, so it would make sense that it could also be beneficial for cats. So we would we want to come out with a cat product. Um, and we also, so our whole concept and mission is really to help address uh chronic diseases in pets. And I think Dr. Randy, where you and I really see a like is like our mission is to not only have dogs live long, well, dogs and cats live longer lives, but we want these lives to be healthier and as healthy as healthy as possible until the end. So like Jeremy and I talk about healthy longitivity, which I think you probably relate. Yes. Um, and we want to target very specific uh diseases and affection that can affect our animals. So we don't want to do like broad spectrum uh supplements, we really want to do hyper-targeted supplements and treats to help manage and either um proactively, so before clinical signs, but also integrating it in the multimodal approach. So we are targeting about 16 different types of supplements, each highly specialized, to address a specific condition. Um so the next the next one we would like to we want to come out with is a treat, um, and we are looking at the category of digestive health because we know how passionate you are about you know uh digestive health and how chronic inflammation in the gut can of course lead to a lot of chronic inflammation in other parts of the body. So that is one of our area of interest, and hopefully we will soon uh come out with these products.

SPEAKER_01:

That sounds great. And if I can be of any help in any of that, let me know. Um I'm always excited to uh to look at those types of things. Because uh, you know, i it's funny, yesterday I did a talk for the staff at Paw's Veterinary Center on all of the specific supplements that I use and for which conditions they're based on. And for example, like in heart health, um I use a lot of ubiquinol, which is a high-powered CoQ10 product, along with the amino acids and some Hawthorne that really have shown to bring down uh probion P, which is a number that we see in the muscle of the heart being stretched, and we're watching those numbers in our animals often. And so there there really are targeted supplements that I often will use and and have had great success with that, but I know that Pet Joe is gonna come out with things that we're gonna wanna do, and um, you know, the um I I haven't tried the chews in cats, and I I guess I should do that. I've got a couple, so we're gonna give it a shot on our end. Um but it would um I think it's a great idea. And I personally changed from a glucosamine supplement to a UC2 supplement for myself, and um just because of the research and and what you've shown. And so, as you talk about many, many times, I try things out on myself before I actually do it with our pets, but that's okay. I'm still living and I'm still I never got toxic for anything that I know of, so we're good. But I'm excited for the future because I think with the quality that you um you illuminate and the things that you strive for at Pet Chow, I think these products when they come will be very high quality and things that we can definitely use. And if pause could help in testing or in you know any ideas that I can help share with, I would be glad to be involved. That'd be great.

SPEAKER_00:

We would we would love that. We have uh we're hoping to produce enough sample that we could have like a little clinical trial. So if you're uh excited about it as soon as we have a better idea of the date, um I will certainly reach out to you. And it would be more of a pilot study, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure.

SPEAKER_00:

But we would really like like that's our approach, is like we look at science to formulate, and then when we bring a product to market, we want to have science and studies. So starting with a pilot would be fantastic. So I will certainly reach out to you.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, well we would we would love to be involved. Um anything else that you want to share with our listeners? Um, things maybe we didn't cover or uh newer things on the horizon, anything you could think of?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I well I I guess actually, yes. One more thing I would like to mention that is very important to us at Jope, and I again for you also, Dr. Randy, is my personal experience again with Pepsi is that I do regret not starting to think sooner about joint health or general health. Um, you know, I was young at the time when I had Pepsi, I wasn't aware of all this, but even for me, I do things for myself now that I didn't do 10 years ago. Um and so I do think, you know, if your dog right now, if you're watching this episode and you're a fan of Dr. Randy and you have a dog, no matter their age, I would say it's never too early, in my opinion, to start thinking about joint health. Um also gut health, I think you know, those are two pitters that are very important. Um, and I would definitely say for again joint care, do not wait until your dog is already showing sign because that means they will be suffering and the suffering will continue. There's no going back when a joint is damaged, there's no reversal. So, you know, if you're listening to this this podcast or this uh interview and you have a dog that's healthier, just you know, do some research. You can reach out to us. But I would urge you to think about joint care uh earlier rather than sooner.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, um that is uh I'm really glad you brought that up because we focus a lot on uh senior pets and some of the osteoarthritis problems that we already have seen. But um I definitely uh like being proactive in my practice. And if I have a a larger dog, let's say um I know it's gonna be an you know, basically there'll be some issues uh coming down the pike, um we will start a joke early on their life in their life because there is some definite proactive uh effects of doing this. Same as Dr. Christine mentioned with with gut health. You know, we we're very strong on foundational medicine where we we basically recommend uh non inflammatory type diets. We we recommend uh higher doses of omega 3s because here in Arizona it's so dry and our animals really need that moistening and that uh anti inflammatory effect, and we recommend Men joke, and we also uh very much recommend uh GI health products, fermented fermented type foods like go kiffer or sauerkraut, or even looking at some of the Espilardis and some of these other things that will really help with our animals' uh GI tract. So yeah, being proactive is really important, and if anything uh that pause, reflect, and heal can help is we want to make sure our clients understand that sooner is better. Uh, so Dr. Just Dr. like Dr. Christine illuminated, is that we don't want to see our pets suffer and then have to catch up. We want to get to that point where we can do this. And you know, one of the the monikers that we talk about is that we still know that our our pets at this current time in veterinary medicine are living to about two-thirds their normal life expectancy. And and there are lots of reasons for why this is happening, but most of it is so many things that we talked about today, and that is not feeding proper diets, not starting some of these products early on to obtain uh bowel health and joint health. And um, so you know, we can affect a change. And we can also affect a change through pet obesity. You know, um 63% of our cats are overweight, 59% of our dogs are overweight, and we you know, the dog aging project and the pet obesity study has shown that if we can calorie restrict and and use very high quality diets, they can live two-thirds, two uh sometimes 2.5 years longer just by those types of changes. And I know anybody listening to this wants their pets around as long as possible, especially we talked about with the quality of life, those are the these are the things that work. So I'll direct you back to uh pause, reflect, and heal, the YouTube site, uh my whip, my website, which is drandypetfet.com, uh, for a lot of the other podcasts that feed to this, but also let you know this will be up. And I also want to ask our listeners any questions you might have of Dr. Christine, please feel free to email me at um uh Randy at Dr. Randy uh drandyaronson.com or randy at drandypetvet.com. And uh Dr. Christine, uh where tell people where people can find information on Jope, where where where should they look for you?

SPEAKER_00:

So, of course, if they're one of your clients or one of your listeners, I think you have you're a great resource, you know, for asking about Jope. Um, you can also find information on our website, so it's petjope.com. We actually have a lot of um articles about uh health and and how to care for your pet's health. And we reference, we reference the studies that are cited on our website, and they are accessible to the general public. So these studies that we run reference, you can read them, you can double check what we're saying. Uh we don't expect you to believe us. We're happy to have you do your homework. So uh certainly go check out the website and then any email, so contact at pedjope.com. And if you have a question, you want to address it to me, you can just put attention Dr. Christine and I will certainly respond. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

That that's fabulous. And so, people, you have a whole list of reference areas where you can go and and pose questions or follow up on what we've talked about. But my recommendation is again what Dr. Christine says, start early and and get get your dogs on pet joke early on with you know the other supplements and and really high-quality foods that we talked about. And you will be very thankful that we will not be facing some of these issues quite so soon, and and basically uh maybe not even with the severity that that we will see if we don't do these things. So, Dr. Christine, um, I can't thank you enough. Um, I've I've invited her out to see us in Arizona. Uh okay. There there aren't there aren't a lot of really big meetings out here, unfortunately, but uh but we could get you you know, we figure that when the winter comes in New York, you're gonna need a break and and have to come out and visit us. But hopefully we'll catch up. Um I'm hoping to get to at least one meeting where you're at. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be going to the holistic meeting or or where I go next, but uh thank you for your time and and for all you do, and and um it's it's so much fun being able to collaborate with you.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you you inspire me, Dr. Randy. So um I can just say you you know, you're the type of veterinarian who is really out there educating others, giving your time, which I know is uh precious. So it's a pleasure. I would come back on a podcast with you any day, anytime, and I will come visit.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Um maybe we can do a sh photo shoot or something, I don't know, another video. I I hear you have a new center coming up, so yes, we uh we we are we're very excited.

SPEAKER_01:

We're uh we're people have asked, so we're moving um our rehabilitation center into its own building. So now we will have two underwater treadmills, which that's been a limiting factor for rehabilitation for us. And my certified rehab technician Diana is fabulous, and so we've really uh been kind of spearheading that. The back of the center is gonna be a collab for dog trainers and sports groups and uh agility people, fly ball people, all that. So that's exciting. And then our cats are gonna be on the other side. So we want to make sure that our cat owners feel very um listened to, and so they won't have to deal with any of the dog people, and and it's gonna be very exciting to have uh uh feline focus on one side and collab and the uh rehabilitation center on the other. So uh yeah, it's very exciting. We're we've got lots of things going on in Arizona. We just don't know when we're gonna see this building. Of course, they told us June, and now we're looking at maybe August, but uh we're pushing, so it's exciting. So maybe maybe for the grand opening we can get you out too.

SPEAKER_00:

That would be pretty amazing, and we are happy to support because what you're doing is really helping animals. So thanks. Um I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks, Dr. Christine. Have a great weekend. Thanks for being with us. Uh, thank you for all of us at Pause Reflect and Heal. Remember that um you'll you can go to our website, drrandypetfet.com, and see many articles, see the um the social media contacts with Dr. Christine and all the other uh people we've had with podcasts. And we hope that you have a great week with your pets, and we'll be back with another podcast coming up soon. Thanks, Dr. Christine.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Have a great weekend.