Episode 13: More Years, More Tail Wags: AI and the Future of Pet Longevity

In this episode we discuss pet care, longevity of our furry friends and how AI is transforming pet healthcare with Dr. Kevin Toman, a veterinarian with over 40 years of experience. 

We discuss the current state of veterinary practices and what you should know...do you really need all the vaccines you get texts about or discussed in your wellness visit?   

We discuss how to help our pets live their best and longest lives.

We also weave in AI's role in improving pet longevity, making veterinary care more efficient, and empowering pet parents to make better decisions.

Key Topics

• AI in veterinary medicine
• Cost-effective pet care solutions
• Veterinary practice transformation
• Pet longevity strategies
• Pet owner empowerment through AI

Sound Bites

• "AI enables me to respond in minutes instead of days"
• "Most vet visits are tied to 20-25% of what you pay"
• "AI makes us the smartest consumers in history"

Chapters

09:01
The State of Traditional Veterinary Care

15:46
Embracing Telemedicine and Longevity for Pets

21:03
Understanding Supplements and Their Impact on Pet Health

Resources:

TheLongevityvet.com

Freevetcall

PlaybookAIPartners - AI Mini Solution Locker

The Huddle - Community - Let's Collaborate and Execute Together

#Podmatch

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There were 11 cases of flu. Guess how many of those pets died? Zero. And those uh six cases of those were found in um in California, four in Georgia, and one in Virginia. My point being this: why are veterinarians every place else recommending this vaccine if not for economics? It just does not make sense for your wallet, and it does not make sense for your pet. When it comes to our health care, or for that matter, your pet's health care, everyone deserves to be treated like an individual, Sandy, and let's use AI to help us make the very best decisions possible.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Welcome to Playbook AI Partners Podcast. Let's run the floor.

SPEAKER_03 1:27

Before we get into this show, I wanted to cover two quick things. Number one, I typically bring on guests that talk about their expertise and what they're doing in AI, or it's me in the mic talking about some new things in AI or providing some enlightenment that I hope is helpful. But one of the requests that I had from a listener is how are people in different industries using AI? And to that end, I am bringing on guests who talk about what they do and how they use it. Today we have Dr. Kevin Tomen, who's an awesome veterinarian, who's going to provide some great pet tips and pet care. I know I learned a lot, but he's also going to talk how he uses AI to help guide pet parents. And up and coming, I have a Dr. Camille Williams coming on as a radiation oncologist and a colonel in the Army talking about AI and how she uses it in patient care. So I hope this added element of AI is something that you find useful and beneficial. Do let me know. The second thing I wanted to cover is the AI Mini Solution Locker. We relaunched that this month. And what that is, is to help you learn a new skill in 20 minutes or less. Who has time for a 90-minute course that's $400? The Mini Solution Locker lets you pick which skill you want to learn and helps you learn that skill that you can apply today and make one business decision and execute on that. And that's the key. If you're not sure where to start, we have the No Fumble AI 3 pack and the Playmaker 5 pack. That's a pre-bundled package based on what it is that you want to do and what skills you want to learn. As always, the goal is to meet you where you're at and help you get where you want to be with AI without overwhelm. And now on with the show. So navigating health for your pets using AI. Navigating our healthcare system and making health care and choices is challenging enough. But what about when it comes to our family fur members? With all the hype in AI, how is it being used in the world of veterinarians and overall pet care? Well, to help us get into this topic, I have Dr. Kevin Tomen on the show. Dr. Kevin has had 30 years of veterinary practice, special interest in orthopedic and cancer care. He has also devoted his professional life to helping pets live longer. Dr. Kevin is using AI to help get answers and better support pet parents on their journey to care for their pets for a long life. He takes great pride on being a healer and a teacher and would love to partner with you in the holistic care of your pet. Welcome to the show, Dr. Kevin.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Well, thank you very much. I I really appreciate it, Sandy. I know just a little bit about how much work goes into these podcasts. And so your listeners owe you a great deal because you're you're providing a service for them that could be found any place else. So thank you for your work.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

I appreciate that. Well, let's get into telling us your story and how it's led you on your journey you were on today, and maybe weaving in how you're using AI on this journey.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Absolutely. Well, thank you very much again for the opportunity. Yeah, Sandy was actually being a little bit uh generous when she said I'd been in practice for 30 years because it it really is just over 40 at this point in time. I'm an old fart. I graduated from UC Davis back in 1986 and ran a series of small animal veterinary practices throughout the western United States. And uh most recently I sold a fairly large practice in San Luis Obispo, California, and am pursuing my passion around helping pets live longer. So I have a website and by that same name, www.helpingpetslivelonger.com, where my team and I work seven days a week to help your pet live their longest life using combination of diet and lifestyle, supplements, allopathic or traditional veterinary care, and prescription longevity drugs. But along that way, I have I'm I'm tiptoeing into this AI world of yours, Sandy, and I um, if nothing else, that perhaps I can share what not to do in the AI world with your listeners.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Well, that would be good. Well, why don't we go there? Ed care is so expensive these days. I mean, I I think that a recent wellness visit for two dogs was well into $1,200. And you want to do everything you can for your pets, but and I happen to live in Colorado, so um, that's what it was here. And I it's just so scary because I've heard people also talk about that and think, oh, I just can't afford that. And maybe people are going to use AI or are trying to find some other cost-effective way, trying to care for their pet. And I I'm a big advocate for AI, but I sometimes worry, what if we're going down the wrong path and doing that?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Well, and that's a very legitimate thought in my mind. And so let me say for the record that I think, Sandy, veterinary medicine as it's practiced right now is broken. And we could certainly talk more about that, even though it bears only tangentially upon AI. But I would tell you that for the largest part of my practice, for you know, let's say 37 or 38 of those 40 plus years, I was an information aggregator for my clients. You might come in with a very specific health issue for one of your dogs or one of your cats. And although I've been in practice for many moons, perhaps I wasn't uh it is a very rare disease, and I would have to find information by by hitting journals and by talking to my network of specialists, by calling my old professors from school or whatever the case may be, and trying to aggregate that on a on an old-fashioned PDF, an old-fashioned Microsoft Word document or whatever the case may be, to present it to you. But that's that's in the past now, because I would suggest to you that over the last two or three years, the tables have turned, Miss Sandy. And by that I mean you have more information at your fingertips through Claude or ChatGPT or the platform of your choice than a Schmo veterinarian like me has ever had in my entire practice life. But here's the deal. I think sometimes what a pet parent runs into is information overload. And it's become apparent to me over the last couple of years that my primary value to many pet parents these days is simplifying what they find on AI and perhaps combining the pages and pages of AI output with 40 years of clinical practice to tell you what really works instead of what is simply found in the backwaters of the Internet someplace.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

What in my head was the old days of encyclopedias and calling a friend and waiting? And gosh, it is just a lot of work. And so now you can use AI to do that. And in your brief time that you've used that over over the years, I mean, have you found the information to be to be accurate? How has it helped you in terms of uh providing answers to pet parents? Because nobody wants to wait. We're in the need for speed generation. So how has it really helped you help pet parents uh put their mind at ease or get maybe get to a solution quicker?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Well, I think it's the latter, really. I mean, I speaking as as a longtime solo entrepreneur, efficiency is really very important to me as a veterinarian. And so what uh AI has done has enabled me to template many of my answers or to generate a response for for a pet parent like you, for instance, in a matter of minutes as opposed to a matter of days. And not to be crass about it, but the reality is that that speed, the speed that you have spoken about, enables me to do a better job, not just for you and your pets, but also for the next person in line, the next person in line after that. And so it very much becomes an efficiency model for veterinarians or for or for medical doctors. And I'll point particularly to the concern by every practicing uh medical professional, whether your patients walk on two legs or four, around medical records. Most nights after I was in clinical practice, I would be in my hospital for an additional two to three hours writing records over the patients that I saw that day. And now one of the current trends, and I'm not in clinical practice anymore, so I can't speak with too much authority on this, but virtually every practice management software, Sandy, has a built-in scribe. If if I carried my iPad or a laptop computer into an appointment with you and just started asking you questions about your pets as part of that wellness exam that you have spoken about, most uh virtually every practice program these days has a built-in scribe that will tr literally transcribe what I say and then what you say. What I say and then what you say directly into patient records so that uh the hope is that you and I can eliminate 90% of the record keeping component that is such a bane on uh healthcare professionals everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

I have to think I just again I had the image of back in the day where you know your day is done and then you three hours spend documenting notes hoping you remember everything that that that went on.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

No argument.

SPEAKER_03 11:12

So it sounds like it's really nice to kind of keep that more concise and accurate because there's only so much that no matter what age or how smart we are, we all can remember. So so I love that that effect. Well, let's go ahead and go there and talk about the traditional vet care. Because if I'm sitting here as a listener listening to this, I I can't I know they're my listeners would scorn me if I didn't ask the the question that I think is on everybody's mind about traditional vet care. It's not working today. It's expensive. Uh, there's a large turnover. I think we we go in and our little you know, vet with it that's always kind of that independent is no longer independent. It's owned by some big organization, you know, global company or whatever it may be. And just it's just doesn't appear that traditional vet care is working anymore. That's the bottom line. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I wish that I could disagree with you, but you're s you're smarter than the average bear, Miss Sandy. And so what I would tell you is uh is that I do believe veterinary medicine, at least in the small animal world, as it's practiced right now, is broken. And I say that as somebody when I graduated from veterinary school back in the dark ages of 1986, Sandy, every veterinary clinic was privately owned by a veterinarian or a couple, you know, husband and wife or whatever the case may be. And now almost two-thirds of veterinary practices and even a higher percentage of the specialty practices are in fact owned by corporate acquirers. And in fact, interestingly, the single largest owner of veterinary practices in the world is the Mars Corporation, the same folks that own that make Mars candy bars, as an example. And so the hard part about that model is this. For one thing, they're hiring veterinarians fresh out of school that don't have any practical experience whatsoever. Then these veterinarians without any experience are being told, listen, you just have 15 minutes to visit with Sandy and her dogs. And oh, by the way, because they're dogs, we require you to recommend these vaccines, not based on the needs of Sandy and her dogs, but just as as I mean, this is the protocol. These are the vaccines that you need to recommend. And these are the medications that you can use if one of Sandy's dogs run into runs into a health issue. And finally, here's the kicker. We're gonna tie your compensation, speaking as uh as an employer to a new veterinarian, we're gonna tie your compensation to 21 to 24% of whatever you bring in for the practice. And so for every dollar bill that your veterinarian charges you, Sandy, as part of a wellness exam, odds are high that they're getting between 20 and 25 cents of that dollar. And so somewhere along the way, there's been a disconnect that has uh has developed between what a pet parent really asks for, which is time and knowledge to help their pets, and a veterinarian's efforts.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Wow. Well, that that's quite a something I have to follow up to on that one. That is just, I think where it went in my mind was when I go in there, I want to trust a person. And it's not to say that I don't trust the person, but I kind of struggle with it because of the point that you mentioned. I every time I go in, it's not that I'm my me and my pets aren't well cared for, but I always feel there's an upsell. And and then I I feel pressured. I'm in the exam room and I'm like, okay, what's a this vaccine or that vaccine? And and you know, and again, to your point, I don't always have a lot of time and I don't always understand, and I just I out of fear, honestly, I just say yes to that. So I'm trying to think, how can I, as a pet parent, maybe if I know that this vaccine, I'll just go with this scenario, is being recommended. Can I just take a pause on that? And maybe knowing what you've just described as the unfortunate way that it is today, I'm just thinking, can I get a list of those vaccines and maybe use AI to educate myself where at least I know I'm not in an upsell situation. I hate to put it that way, but that's the truth. And maybe use AI to kind of do my research? Am I stepping out of line on that? Or what are you thinking?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

No, you're not. I mean, what I I get asked all the time, Sandy, because I'm now in kind of a in a telemedicine practice where I've kind of distanced myself from being in a clinic per se. And one of the most common questions I get, Sandy, is this how can I tell whether I have a good veterinarian or not? Or how do I, better phrase, how can I choose a veterinarian? And there are a couple of ways to answer that. But the first way is to say the key is to find a veterinarian. And there's nothing that drives me crazier than in the human medical profession, seeing a different doctor every time I go into a medical practice. The same thing applies for our pets, perhaps even more importantly, because our pets can't speak for themselves. And if you're seeing a different doctor every time you go into one individual practice, the reality is that that there's just no way that they're that they can be as up to date on your pets' needs as we would like. So the one thing, the one suggestion I always make is find a doctor and stick with that doctor. But the second component to this is, Sandy, the ability to ask your vet why, or for that matter, a medical professional. I mean, I'll generalize right over the right across the border into the medical world and say, why the if you and I, as as patients or as pet parents, cannot ask our provider why, why are you making that recommendation around a vaccine? Or why are you making a recommendation for this procedure or for that medication? That's the single, that's that one word, why, is the single most important question that you can pose during a veterinary or during a medical visit. And so you're exactly right. In a perfect world, you and I would get a list of the recommended vaccines. We would go home and sit and think about whether they apply to us, and perhaps hit uh an AI platform to learn about disease prevalence. And let me give you an example of that. You know, there's this vaccine for dog flu, and veterinarians across the country have been recommending it for the last seven or eight years. Well, do you know how many cases of dog flu there were, Sandy, in the lat in calendar 2025 across 50 states of the un in the in the United States? There were 11 cases of flu. Guess how many of those pets died? Zero. And those uh the six cases of those were found in um in California, four in Georgia, and one in Virginia. My point being this: why are veterinarians every place else recommending this vaccine if not for economics? It just does not make sense for your wallet, and it does not make sense for your pet. When it comes to our our health care, or for that matter, your your pet's health care, everyone deserves to be treated like an individual, Sandy. And let's use AI to help us make the very best decisions possible.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Yeah, we should for sure. Well, let's talk a little bit about you. You've stepped out of the traditional world for all the the good reasons. And let me just pause there too. I do think that you know we we all have to go to the vet. I mean, that and unfortunately, I I think it it is um you provided some great points to help us be aware when we if we are using that, and it is one of those bigger groups to hopefully be aware of that and to ask better questions. So thank you for that. Now you've stepped into a different role outside of that. Um, you call yourself a healer, teacher, longevity for for pets. Tell us more about what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

About 12 years ago, I was put in a situation where uh one of my very favorite pet parents who had one of my very favorite dogs, dog patients, died. And so her little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who was named Phoebe, was getting ready to head to the shelter as an 11-year-old dog with a heart murmur, and oh, by the way, she was deaf. And so it would have been virtually impossible for my little pal Phoebe to have been adopted from a shelter setting. And more to the point, how heartbreaking is it to see an older dog with their variety of health issues, regardless of what they are, being tossed back into a shelter setting, you know, and all the fear and anxiety and nervousness. So to make a long story short, Sandy, I adopted my little pal Phoebe. And she lived for another three and a half years with me before eventually dying from heart problems, like pretty much every Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in the world does. But those days were happy days for her. She and I went to the beach every day. She wandered around and sniffed at rocks and ate the occasional piece of kelp or sand crab or whatever, and just thoroughly enjoyed life. And what that really did is that opened the door for me to the needs of older pets and how I could best help address them. And so that evolved after I sold a pretty good-sized practice in San Luis Obispo, California, to the point where I set up a one-man shop, so to speak, a telemedicine consulting business centered just around the needs of older pets and how to help those older pets live their longest and best lives. So to this day, I practice essentially telemedicine. I pray I practice concierge medicine via the internet. And a large part of that is AI, by the way, and we can talk a little bit more about that. But I use a combination of the therapies that we've talked about. You know, traditional veterinary care, yes. But in that is implicit in that is perhaps avoiding certain products, avoiding certain vaccines as much as making those recommendations. We talk about diet, we talk about lifestyle, we talk about supplements, and yes, the occasional prescription longevity drug. Because here's the honest truth, Sandy. I think if you and I work together, we can extend your dog's lifespans by up to 25 or 28%. And that's more than a year for most pets.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

So let's talk about supplements. Um, because it was such an interesting topic and we we covered you with you on another podcast, but I want to go there because I think so many of us as pet parents think we're doing the best that we can and we we try to do the research or we're we're we go into like a Costco and we buy a Cosaquin or a Dasquin or whatever it is, thinking, oh, my dog's getting older, joint pain. I'm going to do the best for my dog and pick that up. And we think that we're doing the best with supplements, but trying to increase the longevity. But are we really doing the right thing? Are we just, are we are is it just good marketing on behalf of those those supplements?

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Well I'm I'm going to answer yes twice. You are doing the right thing because we're in this game to help our pets live their longest and best life. And the judicious, and here's the key, the judicious use of supplements will absolutely do that for us. But the the second question that you asked is you know whether there's marketing involved and there clearly is because and listen Sandy I'm going I'm going to raise my hand and say that in my 40 years of veterinary practice I sold products like Cosaquin and Dasiquin for well over 20 years. But here's the honest truth Sandy about seven years ago there came a series of studies proving beyond a shadow of a doubt kids proving that glucosamine and chondroitin, which are the ingredients in Cosaquin and Dasaquin, by the way, are ineffective in reducing joint pain whether you walk on two legs or four. Let me say that again. Glucosamine and chondroitin don't work to help your joints or the joints of your pets. Now there are a variety of different supplements that are proven to actually help pets but at the end of the day you and I have to do our own research and that's another area where the where your pet's veterinary care, your pets longevity care intersects with AI because AI can certainly give you a a head start in terms of the ease of the that research project. But the reality is that there are there's a great deal of baloney out there on the supplement market, Sandy probably as many supplements that don't work as do. And one of the best features of AI would be its ability to help us weed out the differences between the two.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

That's so great. I know I felt like I'm like oh I'm doing so great and consequence on special and uh but it's it's so enlightening to talk to you about that because you know we do want to do the best that we can but I know on your sites which we'll link to in the show notes um it really does provide some great information. And speaking of that, you actually have a a call if you could tell us more about the services you mentioned telehealth or reaching out to you and and what um listeners can expect with with a call with you.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah absolutely well I'm the easiest way to address that is this. For your podcast listeners Sandy I have a special website set up and it's just a one pager not very fan no AI there. It's just simply a link to my calendar and the the website address is wwwfrevetcall.com because that's exactly what it is guys. You call, you set up an appointment with me and we'll for 10 minutes or 15 minutes we can talk about whatever you want to about the health or the longevity of your pets. And yes, I am a longevity specialist at this point in time but I've learned through 40 years of veterinary practice and all the mistakes that I've made and all the knowledge that I've gained so I stand a pretty good chance of answering whatever questions you'd like. And the kicker is it's absolutely free. So go to wwwfrevetcall.com. We'll get started like that and then I can tell you if there are supplements that would work for your pet or whether we should use prescription longevity drugs or whether your dog just really needs a dental cleaning more than anything else in the whole world. And so that's a great first step for your listeners.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

Oh wonderful well I thank you for being so generous to do that. And I and as I talked about it, you know we all want to do the best we can but sometimes you know people have limited budgets and and it's sometimes hard decisions have to be made. So I appreciate you offering that to to listeners so they can take that first step in the right direction. And really from someone who who they can trust. And I feel like you're working and doing this with with heart and hustle and passion, I like to say so I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

So any final thoughts that you would like to uh leave listeners with uh before we close uh today what I would say is that as I see it Sandy the true advantage of AI is enabling us to be the smartest consumers in the history of the world. But we have to understand that with that knowledge I mean a lot of times you just need somebody with practical experience. You need a guide. And I'm volunteering to be your guide in that pet healthcare space because I think if you and I work together we can make a huge difference not just in the length of your pet's life but in the quality of their life as well.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Absolutely I always say start getting that knowledge maybe getting that base foundation so that when I meet with you I can come forward with some good homework that doesn't take a lot of time. You can just use AI to put in a and get you know a few of your questions and then really just build upon that with that I like to call human in the loop to trust but trust AI but to verify in working with a professional such as yourself. So again thank you for having that option available to everyone I appreciate your time today.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

This has been a very enlightening conversation thank you Sandy I really appreciate everything you're doing for for people in you know in in the health and wellness space the reality is that consumers need more people like you less I less I perhaps but more Sandy. That's my party platform.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Awesome well thank you so much. Okay now I enjoyed having Dr. Kevin on the show what a wealth of information hard and passion. Make sure and check out the resources which are in the show notes to Longevityvet.com and don't forget about thatfreevetcall.com as well. In our next episode AI has the power to transform healthcare medtech and life sciences but only when it moves from ideas to workflow. To help us get into that topic I have Richard Kedziora on the show also known as RJ RJ is a co-founder of Estenda Solutions and has 25 years of software product design development and management experience. At Estenda he focuses on people and process management and provides strategic technical direction guidance and innovative insights into creating cost effective digital health solutions that make a difference in people's lives helping them live longer and healthier join us on that next episode. Until next time take action execute and run the players