RawPetMedics Tuesday Live

Good evening, good evening, good evening. You've got the quality this evening, not me. We've got Brett. But me, yes, there he is, there he is. So we've actually got some quality. There's that Irish fella, what's his name? Oh, he's not here this evening.

Well, yeah, his wife sent a photo, however.

Oh, did she? Oh, good old Elaine.

Okay, that's brilliant.

Let's have a look. Let's just do this because he's on holiday. I, I believe he's on holiday, Irish resort.

And, you know, he hogged the pool. Kids are out of shot purely and simply because there's no room. But whilst we're all working on reducing our paunches, it looks like he's working on building it. So thanks, Conor, for that. Best wishes from your holiday.

Marvelous.

Promises to be back next week.

That's a lovely bathing suit as well, isn't it? A very— and it just about— I imagine it's kind of Super Spandex in order to— is spandex— to keep his paunch in. Okay, it's not very successful, obviously, but without it, he would look about 9 months pregnant. Bless him. He's, apart from that, he's in great shape, is our Conor.

Oh, it's lovely to see everybody arriving.

Oh, everybody's here.

All for coming back. And thanks, Nick, for a wonderful live last week. Without—

bless you.

I did send you a photo right at the end just to, uh, wish you well.

Okay.

Uh, but you never saw it because I think you were on Patreon at the time.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, there you go. You see, I was actually doing some work. I was actually.

But thank you to everybody who said that, uh, yeah, um, I looked like I was enjoying myself. Not in front of the camera, obviously. Different camera, should we say.

Amazing, amazing, amazing. And Michelle says I was brilliant. You don't know how much I have to pay her to say that, but it's worth every penny. Michelle, check is in the post. Bless you. Okay, so Brent, anything exciting in your world in the last 7 days?

Yeah, some interesting cases. I'm just gonna put my headphones in because I'm gonna get into some I'm gonna get in so much trouble with Pete because—

You are gonna be in trouble.

But they're working on that.

Oh, right, okay, clever, clever. So, um, what do you think? What have you been up to? Anything hit you in the last 7 days?

Well, I had a wonderful bank holiday. I had some really nice time out with the dogs. I spent a day with my wife and the dogs. We went just out into North Yorkshire, exploring, relaxing, falling asleep in the sunshine with the dogs.

Very nice.

You know, that was all great. And yeah, my wife taking pictures of us, waking us all up, you know, disturbing us. You shouldn't fall asleep there.

Yeah, I tell you what, I've fallen asleep on a beach just for minutes and I wake up and I am like a lobster. So I'm really cautious not to do that. Well, I went down to see Maudie and Charlie on Friday and we had a grand old time and then we went walking, had a beautiful walk actually, because it was, the weather was so gorgeous on Saturday and came home for a fry-up and then we jumped in the car and had a lovely drive home in the beautiful sunshine and All in all, had a really fantastic bank holiday weekend. I'm not sure if in the States, did you guys have a bank holiday? Michelle, did they bank holiday? Anybody?

Was it some special?

I think it might be actually.

Remembrance thing. Yeah.

Yeah. The reason, guys, the reason why we're so relaxed is because it's Q&A. So we're not racing to get something in. We, we will do as many Q&As as we can, but we're just, we're just enjoying the time. Memorial Day.

Yes, yes, yes, that's the one.

Yes, yes. Um, so I, I just wanted to ask a question of all our learned, uh, followers, uh, with regard to bovine colostrum. I've just been having conversations with people the last, last week or so about bovine colostrum. So guys, have you heard— have you guys had any experience with bovine colostrum? Positive responses, negative responses, probably even more, even more important, you know, should I not touch it with a barge pole? And what do you think about using a potentially species inappropriate, or maybe a medium which is designed for calves? Is it appropriate to put that into our dogs who were weaned when they were, whatever, 6 weeks of age or something like that. So just any, any little thoughts there, I'd be very, very grateful. Where are you on that? Just, just as our first question, perhaps.

So we talk about, you know, colostrum and extraction of colostrum, and we would talk about, uh, health of our milk products and whether they're from you know, what sort of cattle they're from, you know, are they A1 casein cattle, are they A2 casein cattle, so are they, you know, is it the Holstein Friesian sort of genetic modified cows with high outputs versus Jersey, Guernsey, or even goats, okay, which is all A2, um, and then, and then on to that you've then got the, you know, what you're feeding those cows. Are they grass-fed? Are they not grass-fed? You know, because I can imagine the extraction of colostrum is going to be far greater from those genetic freaks of Friesians and Holsteins than it would ever be from, you know, goats, for example. Although I have heard of goat's colostrum being dealt with, but I don't think it's well known or extracted to a great degree. I've had some benefits, however, with the bovine colostrum that's come on, but there was ups and downs with being able to import it. And so we have had, you know, episodes when it's just unavailable because of the American import into the UK. Obviously over in America, that's great because you guys can just get it whenever. Yeah, mind you.

Yeah.

You might not want to, depends on how they're raising those cows. So yeah, Transfer Factor is the one I—

That's what you were thinking about. Yeah.

So, you know, from decades ago, literally decades ago, and my colleagues used to absolutely love it for all sorts of issues from leaky gut, interestingly, you know, which when we look at that, you think, wow, you know, they have to challenge the system to chronic inflammatory conditions, immune issues, all of that. However, I don't use it as much. I come across it. It's quite a few people have got it themselves automatically, sometimes from their food company that's supplying their food, etc. So, okay, it's an interesting one.

Okay, that's great. Transfer Factor, I couldn't remember that either, but yes, I think I did flirt with it when it was around maybe 15 or so years ago. So I'll just have a look into that. Thank you, Jane. Marvelous. Take the rest of the night off. You've done very, very well. And also, oh, here's a big announcement. 20th of June, we're going to have two reprobates by the name of Karen and Rodney on. They're going to come along and we are going to just have an open chat. We're just going to start and see what happens and just enjoy swapping ideas. You excited about that, Bren?

Yeah, I am actually. It's been a while. It's a mutual thing because I think we're going on, you know, with Rodney. He asked us along, so we thought, well, we'd reciprocate. You know, loads of people love to hear what they're talking about. So yeah, We thought bring them along, grill them for a little bit, have a bit of laugh. You know, we love to have fun times with them and see where we get to with our conversations on what's topical. But I think we'll do a little post. And if any of you guys have specific things you want to bring out of them, then put it on there. We'll put, we'll post the questions.

Yeah. If you want some questions to Karen and Rodney, then we will do that. So really exciting, those two guys, reprobates. Yes, Pennywood, they are very, very naughty, but don't worry, we'll keep them in line. We'll make sure that they are good for the duration of our—

So if you want to save the date, Tracy, it's on the 20th of June. Okay, that's the 20th of June on a Tuesday. Pleasantly at this time, 7 PM in the United Kingdom, and that's, I believe, 2 PM Eastern Daylight Time. So hopefully it's sort of mid-afternoon over there.

Okay.

So what about the West Coast? Oh my God, that's another 5 hours on, isn't it? So yeah, it'd be fine. Something like 8. It's something like 8 PM.

So 11 AM maybe. 11 AM?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, okay, guys, if you're, if you're in the States, it's, it's 7 PM London time. If you just ask Google, he will— Siri will tell you exactly what time it is wherever.

Just put your world clock on your iPhone, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, if, and if you miss it, we will record it and we'll pump it out into lots of, lots of areas. So, Bren, we've got, uh, a number of questions here that Karen—

we just—

bless her, Karen becoming, well, always has been, but is now coming to the fore and is becoming the fourth RPM member. She's very great. She helps us basically. She does all the hard work when we just fart about. Am I allowed to say fart on this? Yeah, we just fart about.

Yeah, yeah.

And off we go. So she's done a nice list here. And the first question is Drakil Kala. Anything natural that can help and anything else other than surgery? Do you want to go with that one first of all?

Well, we've talked about this. So really, tracheal collapse is weakening of the cartilages of the windpipe into the lungs. And so we want to do all of the things that would strengthen cartilage. So there's that. There is a genetic predisposition. Once collapsing, that can be really difficult because effectively it's like bending a piece of card and the more you bend it, the weaker that crease or the strong, the more prevalent that crease becomes. And so the main thing is going to be how can you keep the cough from being particularly bad? So I have used things like Ranunculus bulbosa and Even Spongia and Drosera in some of those cases as common cough remedies. Homeopathics? Yeah, as homeopathics. I think there's even buttercup syrup, okay, is one of those not artificially sweetened. And I would say that I have seen the surgery done. It has its risks and complications. It's called stenting. Where you stent those. It's got a risk of post-operative complications. I would say, you know, if you can just get the omega-3s up, the cartilage that they're ingesting up, check for other conditions that may have predisposed them to a cough. So if they've got heart disease and certainly, you know, things like Yorkie Terriers, You know, the Yorkshire Terrier can often have heart problems as their primary that then leads to them coughing, that leads to a weakness being exacerbated in their tracheas. So watch out for those things. So what's your thoughts?

Yeah, a couple of thoughts. Honey, I think, can be quite useful as a— to ease an irritated Trachea. There is some whisper of bovine colostrum actually improving IgA in the lungs. And so if you're getting recurrent infections, it might be— leave it with me, I'll get some details if it's worth going down the bovine colostrum route. And the other thing was, I've never discussed it with Tony Nevin. Tony Nevin is my go-to amazing guru in terms of osteopathy. And I have discussed the problem with laryngeal paralysis and his take on laryngeal paralysis, which is often a surgical conclusion from a conventional perspective. He says if you get them early, he thinks he can help about 50% of laryngeal paralysis. And I think that because the trachea is under similar similar nervous tone, it may reflect some kind of impediment of the nerve supply to the trachea. I mean, this is way off-piste. This is— we're not even taught this at college. We're not. We've never even had this conversation. I'm just kind of thinking out loud. But I think if we had that conversation with somebody like Tony or a good chiropractor, And if those nerves are being pinched from the neck, for example, it might be that by freeing up that nervous tone, we allow the trachea to do its job better, possibly, possibly. I will ask him and I'll write that down right now. Tony, Tony, re-tracheal collapse.

and I'll let you know. And yeah, for H. mac, you know, that— so when we're talking about improving cartilage, you know, if it's shellfish that you're using, so green-lipped mussel extracts, even green-lipped mussels, you know, fed, things along those lines can be good. Um, you know, it doesn't have to be beef in order to get that good cartilage. You know, there's plenty of that in anything from poultry through to pig, you know, you just have to look at what's going to be appropriate for your individual. I'm not trying to be specific to a case out there. This is general information across the board. So you sort of got to pick and choose your protein, guys, for what's good for your dog in front of you. But yeah, please look out for that predisposition to a cough.

Yeah, and also obesity. If the dog's obese, that is going to add extra pressure and may facilitate that tracheal collapse. So losing weight allows better movement of tissue within the neck. So that would be something to think about. Okay, that's brilliant. The next question is from Dr. Judy's page. This is one of our American compatriots. Good evening, good day to you, depending on where you are today. Oh, I tell you, I'll tell you what, I'm— I've got back into, um, Charlie Arnott. Okay, so the people who are, uh, regular listeners will have, will have, uh, gone with me through my journey, my regenerative journey last year when I got absolutely obsessed with this podcaster called Charlie Arnett, and his podcast is called Regenerative Journey. And I did 71 episodes, and they're an hour and a half, 2 hours long, and I did all of those in about 6 weeks. I could do nothing but listen to all these amazing regenerative stories. And then for some bizarre reason, I was Arnett-ed out I guess I stopped, but I've just started again. I'm going to Groundswell, the amazing regenerative festival. Is that— that is the end of June, the last week in June. It's like the Wednesday and the Thursday in the last week in June. But if anybody's interested, would love to see you there, give me a shout. Um, it's called Groundswell.

As long as you can cope with camping.

No, you don't have to. You can get a B&B somewhere else, but I'm camping because it only costs £20 to camp for 2 days rather than £200 for a B&B for 2 nights. So I'm going to be camping, maybe even sharing with Charlie Lambert. Charlie, if you're listening, I hope you can make it, mate. So there we go. Yes.

You're only saying that because you want Charlie to pitch the tent. Yeah.

Well, he's Army, so he could probably do it a lot better than me.

Oh, don't tell me you're not taking that inflatable thing again, are you? It's like—

no, not that or the tent. Um, right, next question. Dogs with EPI. So this is, this is from Dr. Judy's page. Greetings everybody on Dr. Judy In That Scene. Um, dogs with EPI, foods and supplements to feed and foods and supplements to avoid with dogs with EPI? Off you go.

Wow. Yeah, set that one rolling. So things to use or things to avoid. Now, things to use, I would say, look, I love to use fresh pancreas where you can get it. And, you know, know a good butcher, you can sometimes get those. I'm adding roughly depends on the size, but about 50 grams per 10 kilos of dog per meal. Okay.

In addition to what you're feeding in the bowl?

Yes. Yeah.

Okay.

That's fresh. Okay. Now, some people say, oh my God, that's loads and I can't cope with that. And it can be quite fatty depending on the beast you get it from. You know, it's, you know, you just want to blitz it likely before you pour it into the bowl because that just sort of frees up some of the stuff. You can get powders. In fact, actually, you know, even some of the ready-made powders like this, okay, will actually have pancreatic enzyme in them. So do watch out for that. So, you know, even Keeper's Mix, I think, also has that from Dorwest Herbs. And so have a look. I think the Four Leaf Rover also has some pancreatic enzymes in their complete sort of supplement So that can help.

I would say, I'm just going to jump in there.

Just not thanks, Michelle. You're not far wrong.

I'm just going to jump in there, Brent, just to say, if your dog can't tolerate pork, then don't use porcine pancreas, okay? Or don't use products which are derived from porcine pancreas. A lot of the products that, you know, the posh veterinary products and what have you, which contain a powder, sometimes in a capsule. One of the easiest sources of that is pig pancreas. And so if your dog has a problem with pork, don't use it. You'll have to try and get hold of some lamb pancreas, which I imagine is fairly difficult to get hold of, and maybe some beef pancreas, which is maybe a little bit easier. You can get it from the butcher, but some people will get it direct from the abattoir, actually.

Yeah, so, and you know what, so we talk about this, so this is something I looked into, um, really interestingly, uh, you know, we had that little bit back, uh, we were talking about the ALT levels, uh, being up. Yeah, there's a query about whether that's just them being exposed to canine hepatitis, um, but they're, you know, they're immune, so their liver's having a little bit of a crisis but isn't overwhelmed. Or actually looking at some of the pork products in the UK, in our wild boar situation. So although Brucella is free within the— we're free of Brucella, sorry, within the UK, we are seeing hepatitis E. So it's actually in about 5% of our New Forest herd of wild boar. But if you're getting wild boar and pork products further abroad, there is evidence that these viruses are in those herds. But what they're doing is they're relying on us cooking the food adequately. Now, that's great if you cook your food thoroughly And for us, you know, it's become more prevalent that people are liking game meats and not cooking it as much, and they could be predisposed to getting this virus. But it hits me that actually our dogs that are being fed raw some of these products, you know, unlike the parasites that are killed by freezing, freezing does not kill these viruses. So you're going to have to make sure of the sourcing, you know, what's likely to be a good source. So yeah, just be careful about some of that. If it's wild shot game, you know, what's your predilection to having those viruses in your state if you're in the States? If you're in countries further afield, considerations vary, but Coming back for a moment, those are the things I would add for natural, you know, product within the UK. I think things to avoid for EPI, I think if you're adding the enzymes, there's very little you need to avoid. If you're not adding the enzymes, you know, the reason we spot EPIs is because of the weight loss and the diarrhea and usually the fatty stools that are coming out. Because they've got a lack of being able to assimilate those fats appropriately. And so those would be the things to avoid. Anything for you?

Yeah, well, Caitlin Jane Jensen very wisely said raw meat. I mean, I'm assuming that the dog is on raw anyway, okay, but that's an assumption, so let's not— let's, you know, an assumption makes an ass out of you and me. So I definitely think raw meat is a good idea. It's very digestible. Tripe and things like this are very, very digestible. B12, yes, B12, but I tend to go with all the B vitamins, okay, because B12 is just kind of the star of the show. But what about B1, B2, B3, and what have you? So brewer's yeast is an amazing thing if your dog can tolerate the brewer's yeast. It's great, cheap and cheerful, and what have you. Digestive enzymes, by the way, EPI, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, is just a posh way of saying your pancreas has forgotten how to produce enzymes, and therefore you have to put the enzymes in by mouth. So it's quite an easy concept, just to put that one up on the scoreboard. Don't feed— and Caitlin rightly says, I just assume it, but she rightly says, don't feed an EPI dog between meals because it's only when they get the pancreas or the pancreatic enzyme capsules that they are actually able to digest those things that you and I take for granted for digesting. The other thing is don't go with loads of fats because there's the ability of the dog to digest fat is determined by how much pancreatic enzyme you add to there. So what you'll see with these dogs is you'll be able to give, and it can be as specific as this, you can give them I don't know, 40 grams of fat, but if you give 45, suddenly they get loose. And that's because 40 grams of fat is digested. And that's just an example, okay? Don't quote me on that. That's just an example. You give them 40 and that's completely taken up by the enzyme. So anything on top of that, even 41 grams, you get a gram of fat which just wanders its way down through the digestive tract and can cause problems when it hits the colon, when it hits the bugs in the colon. So I think a probiotic might be useful because by the time you've diagnosed EPI, you've had a lot of food material, undigested food material running its way through that gut, and that may well have made that biome somewhat unhappy. So something to try and get us back on track, I think, would be a good idea as well. We're just thinking broadly. I mean, if you were asked this question in an exam, it's like, dog's got EPI, you just put it on digestive enzymes, off you go. At college, that's what you're taught, more or less. But what I think we can do our dogs, especially our raw dogs, a much greater service by thinking broadly about this. How did it start? What are the implications?

How can we look at our pancreatitis video and look at the, you know, predispositions with inflammation to that. So, yeah, all of those are things. Bile salts for EPI, look, that's about improving absorption of certain fats, certainly, but it's not— I think there's loads of other things that the EPI, the pancreatic insufficiency, as much as anything, is looking at how that enzyme digests those fats into a suitable level of fat that can be absorbed. And so the bile acids come after that, and often they're not inhibited on how many natural bile salts that they can produce. So adding extra, I don't find often is needed unless they've had their gallbladder removed and they've got issues with their liver too.

Yeah, Caitlin has scored another blinder here. Caitlin, you're very on the ball. Make sure that you get, if you've got an EPI dog, that you get a, a blend, um, that's fairly fine. Yeah, because if, if that raw food is really finely milled— a, what do they call it in the States? A, a, a grind. Yeah, make sure that it's well, well, well ground because then the surface area of each little particle is going to be greater and it will allow the enzyme greater access to, to that. Yeah, so whatever weight you you're feeding, don't feed whacking great chunks because the enzymes will not penetrate as well. So good fine blend. Some companies do a really, really fine blend in the UK. The Farmer's Dog is fairly fine, and Natural Instinct are fairly fine. Some of the others a bit more chunky. So good stuff.

Do you think we should shoot through? So let's speed ask some. I'm going to quickly go for Your view on intermittent vomiting bile. Thanks, Mel, for that question. Quick— we've talked about it before, but your quick take on that overnight intermittent vomiting.

Okay, great. Yes, I'll definitely do that. I'm just going to jump on to Caroline Ships. She's just said about raised ALT. ALT. I talked to Fiona Murray. We may be doing some kind of a study because we're seeing a lot, an awful lot of dogs who've got a raised ALT. Liver support enzymes, liver support herb products is what, what you need. Okay, something like the Adored Beast, Julianne Lee's product, is really, really good. She's got a protocol, a liver support protocol. There are many that you can use. Some contain S-adenosylmethionine, some don't. Make sure that, you know, they've got the dandelions of this world, the milk thistles of this world, and what have you. So basically support like mad and just keep going because some of them will take 6, 8, 10 weeks until finally the ALT comes down. So that's— there you go, just to jump that one in there. Um, Branagh's got—

yeah, so basically A dog that's had sort of all sorts of gut issues, burping, gurgly tums, and has intermittent vomiting of bile. So even on raw foods.

Okay.

What's your initial thoughts?

Okay. Yeah, thank you. Right, so this is quickie. So you're on raw, so that's half the battle. However, if you're feeding a protein that doesn't agree with the dog, you may get this regurgitation issue. So I would suggest food trials, 1 to 2 weeks at least on a single protein. And the key thing with the food trial is that you make sure that your treats match the headline protein. Yeah, so if you're on a lamb trial, feeding the dog lamb plus some veggies and what have you, if you're on the lamb trial, make sure that the treats are dried lamb or or lamb spaghetti or something like that, okay? Because otherwise you're not doing a food trial. So you just have to be careful about that. The other thing, there is a wonderful thing, no, it's not so wonderful if you've got it, called bilious vomiting syndrome, which is really, really common. Have a little Google, bilious vomiting syndrome. And that is often very easily cured. If the dog is vomiting just in the mornings, and this kind of yellowy, biley material first thing in the morning, that can be cured by just feeding some food. So rather than feeding the dog all their food, say at 6 PM, you feed half the dinner portion at 6 PM, for example, and then you feed the other half just before you go to bed. It gives the stomach something to do. It is a bit of a workaround, but it's so easy and it's such a black and white cure of the problem. And if once things settle, you can sometimes just drift to a more normal feeding regime. Anything else you found?

Some of the fiber supplements, things like that, prebiotics and probiotics, but mixed with improving fiber, inulin, a few things like that. Within the diet can help. Using bone broths later on at night, they can be useful instead of a full meal and just making sure that you vary your meals. Don't give them, you know, at 8:00 in the morning and 5:00 at night every single day, the same old, same old. Try and give a bit of variety of when they get it through the day so that they're not getting their system primed into activity when they may not be having what they're expecting to have.

Cool. A couple of guys are saying about hunger pukes. Hunger puke. So bilious vomiting syndrome is first thing in the morning, okay? They don't do it in the evening, okay? Is it a hunger puke? No, I don't think it's a hunger puke. It's just an overnight thing. A hunger puke for me is the dog who, if they're not fed frequently enough, they then get a puke. And this is where Bren was just saying about If you feed a variety at a variety of times and you're going to say, oh my God, if I normally feed at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and then I then feed at 7, my dog is going to leave home. Okay, so the answer is that if you do feed at 4 o'clock, then the first few changes will be at 3 o'clock, and then you go to 2 o'clock, and then you go to 3 o'clock, and then you go to 4 o'clock, and then maybe 5 o'clock, because they'll be on the back foot then. It's like, oh, when am I going to get fed? And the reason is that you feed at random times, and I think feeding at random time is a very good idea if you can get away with it, is Because if you feed at 5 o'clock every evening, your dog from about 2 o'clock in the afternoon is going, whoa, it's 2 o'clock, only 3 hours till dinner. And then it's 3 o'clock, only 2 hours till dinner, I'm getting really excited. And then it's 4 o'clock, it's only 1 hour. Okay, you're saying to me the dog can't tell the time. I promise you dogs can tell the time. Okay, if you know what I mean, if you know what I mean. They don't use the clock, they use their brains. They know how the house works and what have you. Basically, you get anticipatory anxiety because food is such a big deal to most dogs, and especially raw-fed dogs, because you're feeding them the real deal and you're not just feeding them cardboard, as so many dogs are. So there you go. I think random feed times and hunger pukes and bilious vomiting symptoms, slightly different, very similar, but slightly different.

And that whole thing of the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic drive and how they're coping through the night, what their stress levels are, whether you perceive them as being stressed or not, what their stress levels are, how active their sympathetic system is, can affect when they've got that sort of GERD symptoms and that regurge and vomiting that can all come into that. So let's move on. Come on, we've got to battle through these. Guys, for those of you who've asked questions and we've done these, you know, before, you've actually had wonderful Karen direct you to some of the videos that have been already put there. So have a little look at those. If you're not sure, look at the advert for tonight and have a look at the videos you've been advised to take a view on. So this is following from Rodney. Okay, so What do you think the best plants are to remove toxins from the air? Have you not seen Rodney's recent post?

Yeah, no, no, I can't keep up with the man. He's too— well, I'm listening to, um, um, Charlie Arnett, mate. I'm on the regen path.

I'll get you ready for the end of June.

Yeah, okay. So, uh, I have— no, I haven't, I haven't, um Do you have plants in the house?

Do you have plants in the bathroom?

Oh, we have— mate, we've got a big outdoor kind of room with lots of glass.

I wondered what you're going to say then. We've got an outdoor bathroom.

It's like a jungle. Yeah, so we've got plants absolutely everywhere. So if— and I think it's pretty well known that plants do have a detoxing effect. And so I think we're in good shape. We should be absolutely fine with that. Um, just a little note to Mark. Mark, um, email me. Mark Dow, email me. I'll take you through that. It's an easy one. I don't think we're going to have time to do it this evening. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, plants, great.

I think anything you can grow is an idea, okay? Because the number of people that try and grow stuff and it doesn't— okay, so Jane, you're absolutely right, spider plants grow pretty much anywhere. And yeah, those dragon tongue plants, the sort of sharp, tall, easy ones, you can dry them out to almost a crisp and then rehydrate them. They are just so easy to grow. Just things like that can be amazing. Okay, so taking out benzene pollutants from car exhausts and all sorts of things, apparently. So worth doing.

Is that a bit like the pampas grass that grows outside your place, Bren? And for those of you who know, okay, it's a veritable forest of pampas grass outside Clark Towers, I can assure you.

Fortunately not. Just because I've heard that you keep going around with pineapples in your shopping trolley.

Always have pineapples on the counter. Yes, indeed. Don't worry, guys. If you don't get it, it's true. Don't worry about it. It's silly, but it's funny. Right. What's next? We've got 5 minutes. So let's see if we can do a couple more.

A couple more. So Oh, torn cruciate, or would you like medicinal mushrooms?

Oh, medicinal mushrooms.

That's too easy. An experience with medicinal mushrooms. Okay, somebody's been feeding supplements for suspected SLO, so an autoimmune disease, okay, in conjunction with vitamins and high levels of omega-3. Which of the many, many, many mushrooms would you consider to be an appropriate option?

Okay, so, uh, Pete will kill me for wandering around the room, but there we go. This is the one that we use, guys. There are a few that you can find. This is called the Mushrooms for Coriolis. It's called Coriolis Plus. It's by Mushrooms for Pets. It's a combination of 5 medicinal mushrooms which are immunomodulatory. They help the body if in a cancer scenario and are very, very safe to use. And so for me, it's a bit of a no-brainer. If in doubt, then I think that these are a really great thing to do. I always use them in cancer. I always think of them in a cancer scenario. But I'm having more and more conversations with people which go down the line of, this is not a skin problem, this is not an ear problem, this is an immune system problem. So I think if we need immunomodulators, and then an immunomodulator is where elements of the immune system are overreacting, they need to be brought down. If there are elements of the immune system which are underreacting, underresponsive, they need to be brought up. And so this is modulation, it's kind of equilibrating. And this is what these guys do very, very nicely.

Yeah, so I actually agree. For years I have used Mycoplex Coriolus as a, a thing for cancer treatment and immune stimulation. I've tended to use other things for immune modulation, but absolutely, I mean, cordyceps, looking at some of the other mushrooms that are in that Mushrooms for Pets range. They do a Cordyceps Plus as well. They do. And all of these can be seen. I like the idea of the 5 Defenders that Linda, you've put up there that, you know, there are, I think, more and more people looking at blends rather than individuals. I know Dr. Judy's got a blend that she advocates as well. So, you know, do go onto her site and have a look at that. So lots of stuff to, to consider. So last quickie before we depart for Patreon, um, there is a whole thing about crystals and organ meats, etc. What meats to avoid because people are panicking about purine levels for crystals. So I've got a few thoughts. What's your thoughts on that? What's—

where are you coming from for urinary crystals in dogs, particularly urinary crystals in dogs? I think if you get the pH right and you feed a variety of foods, then you can easily feed organ meat as a part of that. If you think of it, what is the first thing that the wolf, the dingo, the hyena goes for when they bring down a large herbivore? Answer is the liver, the heart, the kidneys, and what have you. So I'm not scared of kidney. I'm not scared of organ meats, but they need to be part of a balanced meal. Any element of the diet, if taken to excess, even water, will lead you into trouble. Too much bone, trouble. Too much water, trouble. Too much protein, trouble. Too much fat, too much purine trouble. Okay, it's all about balance. I think that's— if you want a really simple resume, that would be it. Bren, where are you on that one?

Yeah, so pH is something you can monitor. And look, you mentioned in the post that was there about, you know, concerns over purine levels for crystals. You've not mentioned which crystals were diagnosed. So don't get mixed up that if you've got struvite crystals, which is the commonest in kibble-fed dogs, that you are then worried about purine levels. Okay, if anything, you want to dissolve those crystals and you're looking at trying to acidify the urine in order to do that. So, you know, not giving vitamin C, for example, in those circumstances would actually be contrary to what you do with struvites. You want to give vitamin C, you want to acidify the urine. You know, that can be a great way of dissolving those stones and crystals. If you are talking truly that you've got cysteine or uric acid crystals, because that's what purines can predispose them to, is the urates building up. So uric acid crystals. Those are much rarer in dogs. They are possible, and you do come across it. Usually there's a genetic predisposition or a liver shunt fault going on with your dog, so you have to address those elements. The genetic predisposition is actually a lot rarer in the UK than it is in the States, I believe. I understand that in the States, the Dalmatians are particularly rife with these. There are a few other breeds that can be predisposed, including Schnauzers, etc. But don't get overwhelmed. Water levels, okay, getting the water levels in and through, not going too hot one way. So don't just give them an organ meal, but if you're giving it in the right proportions, there should be no reason why you need to avoid those organs. I think, you know, getting the fluids right, monitoring is so important, you know, getting the urine checked. You can monitor the uric acid in your dog's blood with a pinprick test like the diabetes test. And even if you don't know the ranges for your machine for a dog, it's all about looking at trends. So if the trend is going the wrong way, i.e., the uric acid levels in the bloodstream are going up on what you're feeding, you can make a change. Okay, so don't start looking at, oh, no red meats, you know, things like that. I think it's about general balance, giving them variety, but making sure they get plenty of moisture through first and foremost.

Okay, I'm going to make it— take it even more simple than that, Bren. Michelle has just said, what about checking the pH of the drinking water? That probably won't make much difference because the body's very good at regulating its own pH. So it's a good thought, Michelle, but I don't think so. What I do see happening in almost every case is that the vet tech, the vet, the vet nurse will do a single urine sample and will look at a treatment regime based on a single sample. And when we all know that the urine becomes more— is more acid in the morning, becomes alkaline during the day, and then acidifies at night. Yeah. So How many people here think that you can have a good estimation of sea level when you've got waves? Yeah, you have to, you have to say, right, that's the top of the wave, that's the bottom of the wave, therefore halfway is here. So what I do, and people get it and they will do it, is you take 3 samples a day for a week and then you just average out, you add them up, divide by 21, and you get an average because that's what the bladder works on. It works on the average. It's alkaline in the day, acid at night. And then you know where you're starting. You can't start a journey until you know where you're starting from. So I think a single sample as the basis for treatment is not a very good idea. He says, trying to be polite.

So monitor, go in for monitors as much as you can and have a look at, you know, it's making sure, you know, what's the actual clinical picture of the patient in front of you. Don't just assume because they've got some uric acid crystals that that's the end of their life as you know it. You know, I think making sure, is that the trend? Is that their predisposition? Are there other things that are going on to cause that crystals? Have they just happened to get a bit of an infection and those crystals can form around bacteria or cells because of that inflammation? Whereas actually normally, because there's no debris, there would be no crystal formation because there's nothing for it to grow around, no knot in the thread for that crystal to grow on. Okay, so Are we ready to go over to Patreon?

Yeah, just a couple of things. I've— my thing is— oh no, they might have kicked in there. Anyway, just Sally Tobin, who is very clever, has said, especially as pH is logarithmic scale. Now you are absolutely right, but that's probably not for the last minus 5 minutes of this talk, I think we should probably do a little talk about urine. Yeah, we should do an RPM on urine because it's amazing stuff. You may think it's not amazing, but you try going without urine for more than 12 hours and you'll soon find out that it is amazing, marvelous stuff. The other one is somebody was saying about why does it change during the day. Now there's a wonderful phenomenon there, which we can actually talk about now, actually. Shall we talk about that thing that I'm alluding to on Patreon? Let's do that. Yeah, it's really worth coming over. Seriously makes me very—

this one. And if you're interested, you know, just join us, patreon.com/rawpetmedics, for a price of a cup of tea if you— if that's all you can afford. Obviously, the more you can afford, the more you're supporting us doing what we do, um, and it's great, um, We have some great announcements coming up, um, so you've just got to listen out for those. But the main thing is, remember, save the date for the 20th of June, um, and we look forward to speaking to you all next week with Conor if you can't join us over on Patreon.

See you soon, guys. Remember the podcast if you want to grab us on the podcast, uh, listen and, um, give us your feedback on the podcast.

Thank you, take care.