Dr. Judy Morgan 0:00
Welcome to the Naturally Healthy Pets podcast. Let's get to it.
Dr. Judy Morgan 0:04
Welcome to this week's Naturally Healthy Pets podcast. My guest today is Dr. Gary Richter, one of the brilliant Holistic Veterinary minds. So we love talking to Dr. Richter. He's a distinguished veterinarian International Best Selling Author of the Ultimate Pet Health guide and founder of Ultimate Pet Nutrition. He has two new books, which I wasn't even aware of Longevity for Dogs and Longevity for Cats. His professional goal is to provide a center where pets can receive effective holistic and regenerative therapies in conjunction with the highest quality of Western medical care. And I love integrated medicine because I think we can offer so much more. He also places great emphasis on the well being of the pet owner, which that is a very important piece of the puzzle that often gets left out knowing that a sick pet can cause great strain and strong emotions. Dr. Richter instills this understanding in his staff and works to ensure that both pet and owner are treated with the utmost care and respect. Dr. Richter, thank you so much for agreeing to be on our podcast today.
Dr. Gary Richter
Of course, it's my pleasure.
Dr. Judy Morgan
So you are one of the few holistic veterinarians, who has been in practice for a long time and still is in practice. I mean, it's unfortunately very easy to burn out, get overwhelmed. And with holistic medicine, I was talking about this the other day with someone, I feel like so many times we're the last stop, like people have been to seven different traditional veterinarians are not getting anywhere. How do you avoid that burnout?
Dr. Gary Richter 1:45
Oh, gosh,I wasn't I wasn't prepared for that question.
Dr. Gary Richter 1:52
You know, I, you know, I can't lie to you and tell you that there are days that it's difficult, but I think at the end of the day, you know, what really gets me out of bed in the morning is is being able to help these patients that that aren't, aren't able to get helped at their regular veterinarian, and, you know, being able to provide something that that that just isn't available everywhere else. And you know, that and just a desire to really sort of help as many animals as I can.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Yeah, got it. And as long as you can stay focused on that, it's easy. And it's just, it's just easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated, because the owners many times when they come in, they're already overwhelmed and frustrated from from a long standing problem that they're just not getting solved. So today, we want to talk about pet longevity tips.
Dr. Judy Morgan 2:49
And there are so many things that pet owners could do for their pets, to kind of get started off on the right foot and hopefully not end up as the you know, we're the last stop in a long line of problems, issues, medications.
Dr. Judy Morgan 3:08
So, how do you start? So if you were going to say to someone, look, I we can help your pet live longer, and have them have a higher quality of life during their lifespan? Because we're we're talking about having a health span as well as a lifespan. A lot of people kind of talk about longevity, but not really the health span. keeping them healthy. So what's your what's your first step that you get people started on? And I guess it would be different if they were coming to you with a with a puppy or kitten versus an animal that's already an adult?
Dr. Gary Richter 3:52
Sure. Yeah. You know, the thing is, is like when people talk about like, longevity and longevity science, I mean, there's of course, there's the real, there's the flashy end of it, you know, stem cell therapy, regenerative medicine, you know, all these really high tech solutions, and, and those solutions are great. And I talk about them fairly extensively in the books.
Dr. Gary Richter 4:13
But But really, I mean, I you know, you look at longevity medicine as as sort of a pyramid and, you know, those those really super, super technologically advanced therapeutics are at the very top of the pyramid.
Dr. Gary Richter 4:28
And where you really need to start as the base you need to start at the foundation. And the good news is, is the foundational aspects of longevity medicine, are the easiest things to do. They're the things that anybody can do at home. You don't need me, you don't need you. You don't need a veterinarian to do this. And what this comes down to is feeding an appropriate fresh whole food diet and managing lifestyle and exercise for your pet.
Dr. Gary Richter 5:00
So imagine that diet, Exercise and lifestyle as a cornerstone of good health, you know, that's revolutionary. But the bottom line is, is you know, you can do all that flashy stuff, stem cell medicine, what have you, but it's not going to do anything. If you don't have that foundation already set.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Yeah, absolutely. One of my favorite sayings is you cannot out supplement a bad diet or a bad lifestyle.
Dr. Judy Morgan 5:29
It's funny, I pulled in the parking lot yesterday, and a woman was sitting in the parking lot. And she had read about us online and lived fairly locally and just drove by to see if we were like a real thing. And are we're not open to the public. And I happen to pull up in my car, of course has the graphics on it. So she said, Are you the vet?
Dr. Judy Morgan 5:49
I ended up having to do a little quick consultation through the car window. And it boiled down to the dog has her two year old dog horrible allergies, the all the veterinarians want to put it on, you know, immune suppressing drugs. And the dog is on a very low quality diet. Of course, the owner is feeding what the veterinarian told her to feed and told her it was fine. And so she had gotten a hold of one of our staff members, and they set her up with some allergy supplements. And I said, Well, those are great. They're going to help but you got to change the diet, you've got to start. And I mean, she it was it was sort of like somebody just turned a little light bulb on for her. She was like, Oh, I had, I had no idea. And I feel like we talk about this so much. But the majority of the pet owning public has no idea what a species appropriate, healthy diet is.
Dr. Gary Richter 6:48
Yeah, I agree. And, you know, I mean, clearly there's, there's a lot of reasons for that. And, you know, part of it is, you know, the pet food industry, for the large part is promoting diets that I think you and I would both agree are not optimal.
Dr. Gary Richter 7:05
And it's an unfortunate reality that our profession is doing the same.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Exactly. But you know, we could equate this to human medicine. My, my, my father had a ton of inflammatory diseases, he was very overweight, he ate all kinds of junk food, processed food, and was a heavy smoker for most of my childhood up through high school. And he would go to the doctor, and no one ever addressed the elephant in the room. The doctors never talked about his diet. The doctors never talked about the smoking. And it was just here's more medications. so I think we see the same thing in human medicine as we are in veterinary medicine.
Dr. Gary Richter 7:51
Oh, for sure. I mean, you know, the paradigm of Western medicine, you know, with the exception of vaccinations does not account for prevention at all. I mean, you think about what what is Western medicine do like, it looks for a problem to fix. Like, it doesn't look for a problem to prevent. like I say vaccines are the one exception to that. But yeah, I mean, most people go to their doctor for their annual exam or for you know, for something wrong, and like, the conversation of what are you eating? rarely comes up? And you know, it's when you think about it, it becomes darkly comical. But it is the reality that that is just not the way physicians or veterinarians are trained.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Exactly, exactly. I mean, we all we all know that having been through veterinary school, the training that you get in nutrition is very limited. And it usually revolves around prescription diets. And supporting large pet food companies.
Dr. Judy Morgan 8:54
Okay, so, how to support your pets mental health, because that's something that's not often addressed, as well. When we look at things from a holistic standpoint, we really want to talk about the whole animal, so that includes their mental state of mind. Certainly, when we look at things from a TCVM or Chinese medicine standpoint, liver Qi stagnation is something I talk about a lot with these animals who are frustrated, and then they're acting out and they're aggressive.
Dr. Judy Morgan 9:24
So what's the latest research on how to support their mental health?
Dr. Gary Richter
Well, you know, I mean, I don't think it's any mystery to anybody that that stress has physiologic effects. I mean, you know, nobody has reached adulthood and not had the experience of how stress can affect you physically. You know, whether it's gastrointestinaly speaking or headaches or whatever it may be, you know, we all know that it has effects and it's no different than it is for our animals. And you know, one of these things that if we're going to focus on how to give our pets their best, longest happiest life is we have to set things up for them, so that they have a relatively low stress life. Now, that's clearly not to mean that, you know, look, everybody's gonna have a bad day from time to time. It's not like they can't ever have a bad day. But you know, we're talking about in the aggregate, here, and really what that looks like is setting up a home environment that is conducive to that pets, sort of natural tendencies and, you know, natural tendencies ranges from, you know, species and breed to just individual personality. So, you know, as a, for example, you know, there's dogs out there, you know, you take a Border Collie, for example. And that's a dog that needs to get out needs to run around, that's a dog that needs a lot of mental stimulation, I generally tell people that their border collie needs a job. Yeah. those dogs need something to do and something to think about. Where as you know, I have Shih Tzus. At home, my little Shih Tzus, are more than happy to kind of hang around at home and sit on the couch. And you know, and just be loveable and fuzzy. two very, very different needs and personalities. But you know, somebody with my lifestyle, working as much as I do, if I left a border collie in my house for 10, or 12 hours a day, I come home to a couch in pieces.
Dr. Gary Richter 11:22
And the dog going absolutely nuts. high stress, you know, so I think, you know, when we start talking about stress and lifestyle for dogs and cats, you know, the ideal time for people to think about this is before they even get an animal.
Dr. Gary Richter 11:39
consider what your lifestyle is, and consider what sort of animal works with your lifestyle. You know, I mean, far too many people go out and get a dog based on aesthetics. I like the way that dog looks.
Dr. Judy Morgan
It's, it's the latest breed in a movie.
Dr. Gary Richter
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I mean, you gotta you know, me, you know, if you're the kind of person that you know, you don't have a lot of like work commitments, and you're outside a lot, and you're, you're out on the hiking trails five hours a day, get the Border Collie. You know, that dog's gonna love you. But you know, if you work like I do, or probably like you do, then maybe that's not your best plan.
Dr. Gary Richter 12:21
So, you know, we need to set things up, you know, in that sense, and, and also, you know, what's the home life look like? You know, some people live really tumultuous high stress lives, particularly if you live in a house with, you know, a relationship where there's maybe a lot of strain, and people argue, and there's yelling, and if you think that that's not affecting your pets, you got another thing coming. You know, everything that we do is rubbing off on them good or bad. You know, and a lot of this, you know, I mean, so, diet, exercise, lifestyle, maintaining a routine for these animals, you know, dogs and cats love routine, if you think about the kinds of things that we as people have a tendency to get stressed and anxious about, it almost always boils down to some kind of uncertainty. I don't know what's going on, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's coming next. Those are the kinds of things we freak out about. Those are the kinds of things our dogs and cats freak out about. And where you provide your dog and cat a regular routine, they eat at the same time they go out for a walk at the same time, you know, their their exercise looks the same, playtime looks the same, then they know what's coming. And they don't worry about it. And they have a lot less stress and anxiety. So you know, I mean, these are all very, very easy things we can do. Like I say you don't need a veterinarian for this, doesn't cost you any money. And the reality is it's actually good for us as people as well. It's win win. Because our pets, you know that there's plenty of scientific evidence out there to show that pet owners are happier people and live longer than people who don't own pets. So I mean, this is a symbiotic relationship here we're talking about.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Absolutely. And while we're on this topic in in my last book the Keeping Your Pets Naturally Healthy, I talk about I think isn't that one I talk about stress in cats. And there was a great study that showed that something like 90% of indoor cats are under extreme stress. And it's because we don't provide what they need. cats need vertical spaces, and cats actually do need playtime. We tend to think of them as being loners. And it's like he's just taking care of himself. He's sitting on the on the sofa. But they actually do need that interaction. We need to take a quick break to hear from our sponsor. When we come back. We're going to continue this conversation with Dr. Gary Richter.
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
We all want to provide the best care possible for our fur kids. But it can be confusing trying to navigate all of the information out there. Diet, vaccines, enrichment, where to start? thankfully holistic that veterinarian, Dr. Judy Morgan put together three short mini courses called Dog longevity, Cat Longevity, and Horse Longevity made easy to break down the top six effective ways we can provide the best care for our pets. All podcast listeners can get 25% off any of Dr. Judy's longevity mini courses using code PODCAST13 at DrJudyU.com.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Welcome back. My guest today is Dr. Gary Richter, a distinguished veterinarian, and international best selling author actually have his book, The Ultimate Pet Health Guide, it is a great book, and I can highly recommend it. And he's got two new ones, Longevity for Cats and Longevity for Dogs. And that's what we're talking about today, how we can give our pets a better life. And hopefully that translates into a longer, healthier life. So we were right before the break. I brought up cats indoor cats being stressed. And I think so often. So first of all, cats are sort of forgotten in the veterinary world. So the statistics are something like only 25% of cats ever see a veterinarian? Do you see like what's what's the skew? In your practice dogs versus cats?
Dr. Gary Richter
I'd say it's probably two thirds 1/3
Dr. Judy Morgan
Yeah, yeah. And even to get 1/3 of your practice is cats, that's, that's working hard to get cats in the door. I mean, nobody likes to bring their cat to the vet.
Dr. Gary Richter
Well, of course, cats are so good at making it look like everything's fine. People just tend to just assume they.
Dr. Judy Morgan
exactly. One of my cats. You know, very independent kind of my cats get to go outside if they want to. Some of them actually live outside because we have 23 acres and a barn and they're very happy. But anyway, this one cat, he was just being his independent self, eating well, and I noticed he was drooling. It's like, why are you drooling? Cats don't drool. And so I snagged him and opened up his mouth. And he had a huge squamous cell carcinoma cancer under his tongue. This thing obviously didn't appear in one day. So it had been growing there for quite a while. And the cat never like not very many people crank open their cat's mouth and look under their tongue. So they are so good at hiding their symptoms. We can have cats that had significant disease that are just seemed like they're kind of doing their thing. So it is important to interact with your cat. And one of the other things for their mental health and well being if you play like laser with your cat, they need to catch the prey, you have to let them win.
Dr. Judy Morgan 17:44
so we're talking about frustration, can you imagine? These are these are the things nightmares are made of, you're chasing something chasing something and you never catch it, or you never get to the final destination. That's your cat playing laser tag if you don't give them something to win.
Dr. Gary Richter
gotta get a reward at the end.
Dr. Judy Morgan 18:06
Exactly. So what are some of your favorite activities for people with their pets? So if you have like those border collies or dogs that that need something, some outlet.
Dr. Gary Richter
Yeah, I you know, I mean, I think there are so many things that that you can do to start with dogs, you know, there's so many things that you can do that are fun for them. Obviously, you know, real easy things like long walks, trips to the dog park, you know, if your dog like swimming, taking them out, swimming is great. You know, and you know, other things, I think that are really good for people to look at, particularly if you have a dog that maybe has some mobility issues, is you know, you can do other things that are mentally stimulating, while not being overly physically taxing. So one of the things I like a lot is nosework. So training dogs to seek out a particular scent, it becomes a game for them. So, you know, this is it's the same principle that that is used for search and rescue dogs. You know, those dogs are finding lost people by scent. So there's no difference between that and you know, your dog playing a game with nosework except just a function of scale. But, but you know, I mean, if you have a dog that for whatever reason, can't do a lot of physical activity, or maybe you as a person, have some physical limitations and you can't take your dog out for a really, really long walk. This is a good thing that you can do with your dog. It's really mentally stimulating for them, gives them something to do gives them something to think about. And it's really it's really helpful for them. You know, I think it's just important when we talk about sort of any kind of like lifestyle stuff with dogs is, you know, you got to figure
Dr. Gary Richter 20:00
out what is appropriate for your individual animal. And that's, you know, clearly a both a breed thing, but also sort of, you know, an age and health status thing. You know, if you have a dog that's a little older and has some arthritis related issues, then maybe taking them out for a six mile hike is not your best plan. But you got to figure out a way to get them out there and you know, and get the dog's energy out and let them be mentally stimulated in a way that's safe. Similarly, you know, I know a lot of dogs love to sort of play fetch and chase a frisbee and you know, and, you know, chuck it and all that sort of stuff. I do suggest that people try and limit that kind of activity a little bit, because you are asking for orthopedic injuries, if you overdo it.
Dr. Judy Morgan
That's especially if you haven't, especially if you're doing the weekend warrior thing if they sit around all week.
Dr. Gary Richter
Yeah, I mean, that's a blown knee waiting to happen. I mean, I don't know about you, but some of the some of the most arthritic spines I've ever seen have been dogs that were frisbee dogs or ball chasers when they were younger.
Dr. Gary Richter 21:03
You know, I think like, like many people, you know, if you're a highly active athlete, when you're younger, you frequently will pay for that, when you get older, especially if you were not doing your biomechanics. Right.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Exactly. And you know, people don't think about that. And I actually did a presentation on this not too long ago, about how and I found it through a sports and rehabilitation veterinarian, but exercises to warm your your dog up before you do any of these high energy activities and different stretches and exercises that you can do to help build that particularly core strength.
Dr. Judy Morgan 21:44
I have a friend who has agility Cavaliers and hers are the top in the nation. And these dogs, they all live until their late teens, and they never have arthritis, and these dogs are winning everything. They are running fast, but her training with them is very regimented. And the warm up, the cooldown, the core strengthening, putting so and the diet, putting so much into that to make sure that she is avoiding injuries.
Dr. Gary Richter
So it takes if you're if you're talking about like a competitive athlete, I mean, it legitimately takes a village. I mean, you look at you look at the like a real competitive athlete, a human one. And there's a there's a dozen people standing behind that athlete, trainers, physical therapists, massage people, chiropractors, like, it takes a lot to make a body do with some of these people do with their bodies?
Dr. Gary Richter 22:44
You know, and it's, for some reason, we don't translate that to our animals. And of course, you know, one of the things I often tell people about dogs is, you know, the greatest thing in the world about dogs is their ability to live in the moment, I think it's I think it's the greatest lesson that we can learn from them. The the unfortunate sort of dark side of living in the moment is you never think about the consequences of your actions. Which means that we have to be our dogs' conscious, because they are going to run around until something falls off of it. Oh, yeah. Because they're not thinking about what's happening five minutes from now.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Right? You're thinking about the fact that they're gonna fall off the teeter or that they're, you know, going to twist a joint when they are doing something. So yeah,
Dr. Gary Richter
exactly, exactly. So that's our job as people is to take care of them in a way that they're not really able to take care of themselves.
Dr. Judy Morgan 23:40
Exactly. So I want to talk about supplements. So for the, you know, the average look, we'll stick with dog right now. But I mean, if you want to throw some cat into, that's fine. So for the average healthy dog, do you have sort of across the board supplements that you think are beneficial? And we don't have to not specific brands, but you know, omega threes or whatever?
Dr. Gary Richter
Sure. So I mean, the short answer to that question is yes. And I think it's just there's so many ways to look at this.
Dr. Gary Richter 24:15
You know, and in the books, I go through a list of 30 plus supplements for both dogs and cats, and discuss the very specific aspects of how they benefit, how they can be used and you know, sort of what hallmarks of aging that they specifically address. That said, I mean, I think the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to supplements for both dogs and cats, probably Omega fatty acids and probiotics. Those are probably the two supplements you can almost never go wrong with. You know, I do a lot of Omega three testing for dogs in my practice, and I find that almost all of them are deficient and
Dr. Gary Richter 25:00
Um, even the ones that are eating really good diets are still deficient. And omega three fats, as you know, are so critically important to so many aspects of physiology, inflammation, gut health, skin health, neurologic, health, brain health, immune system, it goes on and on. I mean, it's, it's the easiest thing in the world to get and supplement. And like I say, almost every animal and frankly, almost every person needs them. Similarly, probiotics, you know, anything that we can do to improve gut health is improving immune system health, and thus, is improving overall body health and supporting longevity. So some real easy things to do there, you know, I mean, stepping out outwards from there. Now, I mean, it depends on what your goal is, you know, I mean, if you're really sort of focusing on longevity, as a as a treatment goal, there's a lot of supplements we can look at, ranging from various vitamins and minerals to things like curcumin, boswellia, ashwagandha.
Dr. Gary Richter 26:04
That, you know, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of herbs and supplements out there that directly address the various cellular changes that happen that contribute to aging. And I think, you know, I think the thing that that we need, it requires some strategy in the sense of the goal here is to not give your dog or your cat as many supplements as possible.
Dr. Gary Richter 26:28
It's not practical. You know, I mean, what I always tell people is anything that you're going to do to support your pet, it has to be sustainable. You know, if you're going to start some plan, whatever it may be, and a week or a month later, you're going to say this is too hard, I'm not going to do it. Well, we haven't really done anybody any good. So we have to do this in a way that works. And the way that you do that is you give a few supplements at any given time, and you rotate through different supplements, you know, at some predetermined interval, you know, the thing is, is our bodies and our pets' bodies evolved having a variety of nutrients over time, nobody evolved to eat the same thing every single day. So giving the same supplement month after month, year after year is not necessarily even a good thing. It's not how our bodies are designed. So rotating through different things can be really, really beneficial for these guys. And you know, I go through that in the books in some detail on exactly how to do that. And sort of how to strategize which supplements to use when?
Dr. Judy Morgan
Yeah, absolutely. Do you see a lot of vitamin D deficiency in your practice?
Dr. Gary Richter
I do. We see quite a bit. You know, and one of the interesting things that I think most people don't realize is that,
Dr. Gary Richter 27:47
unlike people, dogs and cats do not convert sunlight to vitamin D. It's purely a nutritional thing with dogs and cats, which if you think about it, it makes sense. They're covered with fur so what good would it do them?
Dr. Gary Richter 28:01
Sunlight like we as people do. So So yeah, I mean, we see a lot of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is so critical for immune system health. We know Vitamin D plays a really important role in preventing cancer. There are so many aspects of physiology that vitamin D touches. So that is something that I often supplement in my practice it is something that ideally speaking, you should be checking vitamin D levels, rather than just blindly supplementing because you can over supplement vitamin D and cause problems. If you're using sort of a multivitamin supplement made for animals, it's probably fine. But if you're supplementing vitamin D specifically, I would suggest that you check levels from time to time to make sure that they're there where they ought to be.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Absolutely. We are out of time, I cannot believe it. So we do have an offer.
OFFER
listeners can receive 40% off their purchase at Ultimate Pet Nutrition if they use the discount code HEALTHYPET40. At checkout, we will put that link in the show notes. Dr. Richter, thank you so much for joining me today. You are always a wealth of information. And congratulations on the new books. And I hope they do really well. And we'll probably see you soon.
Dr. Gary Richter
Thanks so much.
Dr. Judy Morgan
Thank you.
Outro
Thanks for listening to another great Naturally Healthy Pets episode. Be sure to check out the show notes for some helpful links. And if you enjoy the show, please be sure to follow and listen for free on your favorite podcast app. We value your feedback and we'd love to hear from you on how we're doing. Visit DrJudyMorgan.com for healthy product recommendations, comprehensive courses, upcoming events and other fantastic resources. Until next time, keep giving your pet the vibrant life they deserve.
DISCLAIMER
The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. It is no substitute for professional care by a veterinarian, licensed nutritionist or other qualified professional. You're encouraged to do your own research and should not rely on this information as professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Dr. Judy and her guests express their own views, experience and conclusions. Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets neither endorses or opposes any particular view discussed here.
