From Touchdowns to Paw-Downs - Why KC Pet Parents Can't Miss WholePetCon

1:00 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Welcome to Healing Tails.

1:04 Dr. Ruth Roberts: I'm Dr. Ruth Roberts, here to help you become the best pet parent you can be with simple natural care that works for real life, real budgets, and real pets.

1:16 Catherine: All right, welcome everybody. And more importantly, welcome to Kansas City, Dr. Ruth. So we can't wait to have you join us here in our beautiful city, our beautiful Metro, I should say. I think all of us live in different areas here in Kansas City. So just note when we say Kansas City, we don't mean just downtown, although this lifestyle growth here has definitely got that covered. I'm actually more in the metro area. And I believe Lisa here is even more into the southernmost of our suburbs. So we are a vast area here. Midwest means a lot of land to cover, but we also have the same pride here, for sure. One of our prides is absolutely Kansas City Chiefs. So definitely we're gearing up for our football season and everything here. We love our Chiefs, and we love our animals. So all of us here have different levels of that animal loving. I've had pets myself for quite some time. I actually have a 13 year old aging dog right now. So we're kind of on the last legs of her life, unfortunately. Lisa, I'll kind of let you go into things once Dr. Ruth kicks you off. And then Adriana as well, little new mommy that we've got joining us. So with that, I'm actually a little curious, Dr. Ruth, on how we combine and work with pets and families and obviously our love with pets and families that we have and just really the Midwestern charm and love that we have in general here. Again, it's not just our city. It's not just our people. It really does get into our animals. I would say Kansas City is a really pet friendly city. You will see pets pretty much carried in and out of everywhere. We have many bars here where you can take your pet, restaurants, you can take your pets, doors, apartments, all of that are pretty pet friendly. Obviously, we've got some animals not really on the list of friendliness, but for the most part, you know, our pet charm matches our people's charm. We're friendly and enjoy inviting people. So I'm really curious to hear from you, Dr. Ruth, of kind of thoughts of that, of how to maneuver through this, how to keep our pets friendly and loved within our community. So everybody, I want to introduce Dr. Ruth Roberts here. She is a well known person in the community of pet care. Dr. Ruth, I'm going to go ahead and hand it to you and let you kick off a little bit more here and why we're here today.

3:08 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And Catherine, I am so honored that you all are jumping in with this because you all have that Kansas City chief pride going on. That extends to everything you do. And that's been just in doing a little bit of research about Kansas City, having a couple of conversations with you. For those of you that are in the area, you probably know Catherine Baskett better as Casey Glitzen. She is not just a superfan, but really a fan of fans, which I think is amazing because your whole deal is like, how can we make this so much fun that the whole community is involved in supporting the chiefs? And I think that's really an amazing way to approach things, but you're a support of all things Kansas City. She's a wife, a mom of two humans and a really special fur child, as she mentioned, and a Kita, which is a really unusual breed, but they're such loyal dogs with a family. They're so down to earth, a very civil, but she's come to see her pets as part of the family, truly family members. And I think the other folks that are joining us today, Adriana, who is the Casey lifestyle girl, she is the Casey lifestyle expert and she understands what modern families in the Kansas City area need when it comes to wellness and living their best lives. So Adriana, welcome. Thanks for joining. So glad to have you. Thank you.

4:45 Adriana: I'm excited to be here.

4:46 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So cool. And congratulations on being a new pet mom.

4:51 Adriana: Thank you. It's going to be a little overwhelming sometimes, but I love her and it was like the best decision ever.

4:58 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Amazing. Cool. And Lisa Nelson is also joining us and she has been in the rescue world since 2015, the veterinary field since 2016 and has run her old dog sitting business since 2018. And in all of her free time, she takes care of her own crew along with hospice pups. So Lisa, my goodness, how are you like keeping all the balls up in the air?

5:25 Lisa: I'm exhausted. No, it's great. I mean, definitely it's tiring, but it's well worth it at the end of the day. So dogs are my passion. And I jumped full in on that back in 2015 after I lost my first dog and I went straight into hospice fostering and never looked back.

5:49 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And that's beautiful because it's just like, okay, this is what I need to do. This is my joy. This is my juice in life.

5:56 Lisa: Yes, absolutely.

5:59 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And Catherine, I mean, so we decided to come to Kansas City because the Midwest needs some love. And there are so many pet families there that want this information to help their pets live longer, happier lives. And we are super excited because we're having our event September 13th and the first game for the Chiefs is the following day. And from what I understand, you guys are working on a three-peat. So more power to you. And I think you have got like the super vibe going on between Patrick Mahomes, the amazing quarterback, and then Travis Kelce with the Taylor Swift effect going on. Amazing, amazing fun stuff. So you're catapulted into the limelight in the football field. But what's most amazing is how the fans react to everything that's going on. And the fact that they're combining their passion for football for the community and loving their pets and helping them live their best lives. Welcome everybody.

7:07 Catherine: Absolutely. Thank you. And we lost the three officially. So this is actually our revenge year that we have going on. So if you see us not as kind this year, it's a little revenge. So claws are out a little bit. We probably need some claw trimming, honestly, Dr. Roberts. We do welcome Taylor Swift being a cat fan herself. So, you know, we're not all dogs. Got some of us here in the city area that are definitely into other types of animals. We're not judgmental at all. Unfortunately, I don't think you can take your cats into as many places as these dogs. But I think for Taylor Swift, they're probably going to allow her to do whatever she wants in this town at that point. No, we cannot wait for you to be here. I think that's one of the things all of us here on this call share is the more fun things we see coming to the Kansas City Metro, the unique type things that come, things that do truly cater to us as individuals here. I think a lot of people get it in their minds. Kansas, Kansas City, these are just country bumpkins living on farms, you know, when we talk animals, they're talking about their cows and horses. No, we really are in a metropolitan area. It's a beautiful city, so much to do here in Kansas City. Adriana definitely is the one to go to for all things Kansas City as far as life, light and loving and stuff. So we do appreciate you being here today. I do have some quick questions for you, if you don't mind that and kind of just get this all off is with the whole pet con, what inspired you to go this route and kind of share your wealth of knowledge and do something that will be of comic on and things of that nature, but a pet con to kind of get that information out. Really good speakers for people to get knowledge and really combine Western medicine and just common everyday things that we can do to help our pets. So what kind of inspired you down the road?

9:33 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Exactly what you're saying. I mean, the more information we can get out there to you pet parents so that you know there are options, you know, there's another way that could be used to support your pet. That is what this is all about. So part of the reason we chose Kansas City is because you're in the Midwest. As you said, it's a beautiful metropolitan city, lots going on, lots of fun. And all of the pet events are on either coast. So we started out last year doing our first event in Chicago, which was great, but Chicago is a super expensive city. And so we wanted to get into the heartland and really bring the information. The other thing is that most of these events are all about dogs. And so we're calling this Whole Pet Con because it's for dogs and cats. And we've got, as you say, we've got some amazing speakers. The Two Crazy Cat Ladies, Shane, Adrian are like bringing cats to the forefront of having more options, supplements that are specifically for them and more information so that cat parents can really shift the narrative and start asking better questions when their cats have health issues. So it is just critically important for us to get this information out to pet parents so that they can make better choices and ask better questions.

11:12 Catherine: That makes sense. So can you go over just a little bit and briefly, I know a lot of this information or things people can learn there at the conference, but just really kind of briefly how you merge these two worlds together because I know in research I've done on you and kind of follow along, you're not anti vet care or anything like that. You are about merging these two worlds. So just real briefly, you know, what does that mean? We're merging these two worlds with just a quick synopsis of one example of what you mean by that.

11:47 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. So for years, what I said is I'm an integrative veterinarian. And what that means is that I'm integrating multiple modalities, so conventional or Western veterinary medicine plus functional medicine plus traditional Chinese veterinary medicine plus whatever else I could get my hands on to help pets. Now, the word that gets floated around in terms of natural pet care is holistic, right? What that word actually means is to incorporate all modalities for the entire well-being of that being. So whether that's a person, a dog or a cat, and so holistic and integrative are truly almost synonymous. But the current interpretation of the word holistic is more along the lines of it's only natural and that's the only way. And I think that's really confusing for a lot of pet parents. You're not getting the results you're wanting, but you're also not quite believing that influencer when they're saying that you just need this supplement to make everything right. And so that's part of what we want you to understand is get information from these amazing speakers and then figure out how that makes sense for your pet.

13:07 Catherine: Perfect. Yeah, that's kind of what intrigues me. Lisa, I believe you and the vet care community, I'm curious how you guys adapt to this stuff. I'm assuming even in the veterinarian world, you truly do want to be more holistic, not everything's about, "Oh, just bring your dog in. We're going to pump it full of injections or something." Is that how it is over there in the veterinarian world as well, or at least in your world?

13:36 Lisa: The vet I work at right now is not holistic, really none of that natural stuff. The vet I worked at previously was both. So I actually really, really loved working there because I could incorporate both medicines and do kind of what I needed to do for my pet. Working with a lot of hospice dogs, I need that natural care because I absolutely do not like pumping them full of medicine because I don't feel like it's good for them. So it just depends on the vet that you're working with, honestly. And even though I work at a vet now that's mostly just Western medicine, I mean, they don't ever disagree with me when I'll mention something about natural stuff. They're willing to talk to me about it and all that too. So that's nice. I don't have anybody telling me to go one way or the other and there's no other way around it. But I'm very much about working with both. Just for the wellbeing of the pets, every pet is different. So each one needs different things to go for whatever they got going on at that time. So it's not a one size fits all.

14:52 Catherine: That makes sense. And I know Adriana, you've got Daisy. I think I saw her making a sneak appearance right there. There you go. I was going to say you're on there.

15:05 Dr. Ruth Roberts: What a beauty.

15:09 Adriana: But she's psycho. I think she might be a little bit possessed. So

15:16 Catherine: Dr. Rigg, we have a...working in a holistic approach, Ms. Adriana here with her possibly possessed doggy. She also worked in the after world, you know, maybe channeling Daisy's inner spirit. Calming her down and maybe sage you for a little bit. Right on.

15:42 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. And we talk about that a lot, right? Because our lives are so frenetic and so crazy. And Adriana, you're doing all these amazing things, getting out there, helping people learn about their options in terms of enjoying life in KC. But it's like, okay, how can we calm it down before we sit down with Daisy? And so I talk a lot about that of just sitting there and turning off the phone, no notifications, none of that, and just take a deep breath. You calm down. She calms down. And then she can stop with the zoomies for about 20 minutes.

16:25 Catherine: Adriana, I'm pretty sure Dr. Roberts basically just said it's not Daisy, it's you. We've got to talk to you.

16:37 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Well, and that's it, right? Because life today, it's like you go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go from, you know, seven in the morning till from K.C. to K.C. as we used to say in South Carolina. And it's really hard to stop. I mean, and so I'm saying this because I do this to my own dog. And so when I see her literally spinning in circles, it's like, oh, sorry. So, yeah, so it's like, okay, it's time for me to turn it all off and be present with Hayu so that she can calm down. And then I calm down and I feel better too.

17:09 Adriana: But I have to think, is it me? Because my life is so long ago and so busy and I'm, you know, and she just is a lot too. She's just everywhere. I have to watch her. What is she getting into? Like, it's like, it's like she's on the go as well. I'm like, where are you going? She's going. It makes sense now.

17:36 Catherine: She's channeling her mama. Yeah, that makes, I honestly, I never even thought of it that way. But yes, we channel us. So, I guess, you know, my daughter's the same way. She mimics me. My Akita is just, I think they've just always been different because they don't go with us everywhere. They were very much a home where your dog goes with you everywhere.

18:00 Adriana: That makes sense. That's a very strong willed and I'm very strong willed. So, it just like, Yeah.

18:08 Dr. Ruth Roberts: It gets interesting, right? And the other thing I talk about a lot is that our dogs end up being our mirrors and it's like, Oh, okay. And I, you know, I'm not saying this because I see, I do it myself and this is how I've learned it. It's like, Oh, I'm driving you nuts because I'm nuts right now. Or I don't feel good. And so you're not feeling good too. So, it's like they are working with us. They're trying to say, Hey, hey, do you see this in me? Do you want this to continue in you? And so they're giving us really valuable information that's hard to see, if that makes sense.

18:48 Catherine: Yeah. Yeah. Makes a lot of sense. I presume, you know, that's why a lot of dogs are used for medical purposes, you know, for somebody that has, because you're calm. She's like, it's about time. My mommy's learning what's going on here. You're calm, she's calm. Adorable. She is a pretty little girl. How old is she?

19:20 Adriana: She's almost three months. Just a baby.

19:25 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. I mean, so you've got like a 12 year old running around too. And that's kind of, that energy is really high. Yeah.

19:33 Catherine: So it's, yeah. I love that her ear is flipped back in the same way that your hair is flipped back on the side. You're, you're right. Dr. Roberts, she is a mirror image right now.

19:49 Adriana: Oh my God. That's so funny.

19:52 Dr. Ruth Roberts: What a doll. Just adorable.

19:52 Catherine: Thank you. Thank you. All right. So we've got While Pet Con coming up. Can you share just a little sneak peek of the lineup of the people? I know you said the Cat Ladies are going to be here. Who else? If you can share some of that and maybe you're so excited about this.

20:13 Dr. Ruth Roberts: All sorts of cool stuff going on. So Rita Hogan is joining us. She is on a book tour right now. And her book's called the canine herbalist. She is one of the most down to earth people in helping people understand how they can incorporate herbs into their dog's lives. So just a really great speaker, lots of amazing information. We will have Amy Renz from Goodness Gracious, which is a human quality, gently cooked diet. She has really been a maverick in helping parents understand more about pet nutrition than what influencers say and that sort of stuff. And she helps you understand it in terms of how this impacts your dog or cats' metabolic. We'll also have Joni Kamlett from Real Mushrooms. She has over 30 years in the veterinary field as a registered veterinary technician and a canine rehab specialist. And she's worked for several different companies, including Standard Process and now Real Mushrooms, helping people and practitioners understand the benefits of natural products. But in specific, Real Mushrooms has an incredible line of functional or therapeutic mushrooms. And so she'll be speaking about that. Linda Loudon, from the Dog Moms Club is an emergency veterinarian. So she's going to be sharing information about how to be prepared for emergencies really. And I think that's it is that we, if you figure out how to have a first aid kit and supplies available. So if you need to bug out for you guys don't get hurricanes there, thankfully, just the tornadoes.

22:13 Catherine: Yeah.

22:14 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. And but if you've got all of your supplies, when something like that happens, that makes life so much easier. And then I'll be speaking, still not quite sure what we'll be talking about. We'll have amazing vendors with both supplements and food and other things that you can learn more about how to support your pets, health holistically.

22:36 Catherine: That is awesome. And I'm going to say this, attempting a straight face in it, because I really don't mean this as a joke, but it's going to sound this way. I hear medicinal and mushrooms and things like that. Given where we're at, Missouri is very pro and friendly, medicinal purposes, as far as marijuana and things like that for humans. So I'm, I'm personally intrigued about this because I've always looked at it from, okay, you know, we are really seeing the power of natural herbs and supplements for humans. I'm shocked, honestly, that it's not more of that on the pet side as well. I mean, if it works for us to the extent that we're literally clearing legislation, we're not going to be able to do legislation so that people have access to these things. It should be that way for pets as well, I would presume. So it's interesting to hear you speak through these things. And I'm really looking forward to hearing more about that there. And now I have to say, even if you're not a pet owner, maybe come because maybe it'll help you out as just a human being altogether.

23:52 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. Right on.

23:54 Catherine: For sure. All right. Well, we have different ticket levels and stuff available. I know we've got general PAW support, VIP. Can you kind of go over the different levels of these tickets that people can get their hands on for these events?

24:09 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. So, so this is going to be a fun, fun day. So I think the doors are actually opening around 830 for registration. You can come in, have a quick breakfast, some coffee with us. And the ticket price includes the breakfast, coffee, as well as a lunch. So that we want you to stay there, stay nourished so that you can keep thinking because it's going to be a lot of information. And so we'll have the speakers speaking throughout the day. We'll have a couple of different mini talks as well. And the really cool thing is the holistic pet health coaches will be there to help you start to understand some of these things. Now, the difference between the general PAW support and the VIP top dog ticket is that in the evening, we'll have a Kansas City's favorite activity, a little cocktail hour, some more delicious food, and you can meet and greet the speakers, hang out with us, talk to the vendors more, and really get the whole experience going on. Plus, there are a couple of... Well, not a couple. There's amazing goodie bags that we'll have. The top dog tickets will have a little bit more generous bags, shall we say. So you'll also get the ability to enter first and sort of more priority access throughout the event. So it's going to be a fun day.

25:39 Catherine: Awesome. I'm really looking forward to that. And I know we'll mention this again, and I'm sure, and I'll tag it as well as far as where to get these tickets. But if you have that information right quick now, maybe a good time of where people can go ahead and...

25:54 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Sure. wholepetcon.com. There we go. That's the whole deal.

26:00 Catherine: I know. I've been struggling on the wholepetcon.com to go ahead and get your tickets and get them soon. But I suspect this will sell out and appreciate that. So thank you for going over that. Again, we'll tag some of this information so people have access to it. I did want to move on to some other things here, maybe some fun time. As far as our community here and lifestyle here in Kansas City, I think you may have some questions for both Adriana and Lisa. So I kind of want to pass it back to you. Got some questions for these lovely ladies here.

26:39 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. So Adriana, you are the Kansas City lifestyle expert and a new pet parent. So how do you see pets fitting into the work you're already doing? And more importantly, how holistic pet care might fit into the modern KC pet parents lifestyle?

27:01 Adriana: Well, I see holistic pet care as a natural extension of the way many KC pet parents are already living. We love local. We value wellness. We tend to embrace experiences that bring more joy and health into our families. And that includes our pets. We love our pets. So holistic care fits right in, whether it's choosing maybe locally sourced or nutrient rich food, maybe using natural supplements or maybe incorporating alternative therapies like acupuncture or massage. Now modern KC pet parents want their pets to thrive, you know, not just survive. And they see them as like true family members, like Bailey, my baby that you guys met, she's my child. So it's really all about creating a balanced lifestyle. You know, fresh air at like our parks, mindful nutrition, and just being proactive about our wellness. So our pets and like, we can make sure that they live their happiest and healthy lives, you know, alongside of us.

28:12 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And so are you seeing that the holistic lifestyle trending up? And are you finding that the that KC pet parents have more access to options like this or, or it's still kind of in its infancy?

28:29 Adriana: Well, I think, I think pet parents are really embracing more holistic approaches to wellness, kind of blending traditional discretionary care and like natural therapies like acupuncture and like massage. I feel like there's a growing focus on personalized nutrition, like fresh and locally sourced meats, raw or freeze dried like diets, and functional add ons like probiotics and bone broth. And I think there's also kind of maybe like a mental enrichment or like toys like puzzle toys, agility and like sensory play. And I think preventative care is also a priority with owners investing in like early screenings, maybe like joint support and maybe some like immune boosting supplements. And they're also some tech savvy trends, smart colors, activity trackers, that also kind of help monitor pets, like their health in real time. So I feel like KC pet parents are making sure their pets thrive as true members of the family. Like I said, my, you know, Daisy is a she's my child. So I just want to make sure that she has the best of everything.

29:57 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And that's beautifully said, I think that that's, and again, that's part of why we're doing Whole Pet Con because it's, it can be difficult to get that information. Some of it's correct. Some of it's not so correct. And so that's what we're hoping to do is to give folks good, clear information.

30:16 Adriana: I think so. I think people need and want and desire clear and honest information. They want facts.

30:27 Catherine: And I think that's a again, I get back to I think people view the Midwest as, you know, we're just structured, we're just going to do and whatever you tell us to do is what we're going to do. And that's not who we are. We are very much a little bit of the East Coast, a little bit of the West Coast type personalities here. We actually enjoy and welcome options. You know, it's not like we're typical ones that are just going to go to the store and buy dog food. Like Adriana mentioned, we are definitely out there looking for those options. We personally, I know I use just regular dog food, just because that's what my pets have. Like we actually have had problems with more human general food. And I'm just going to mention it, you know, we've got people heavy hitters in the community now to the likes of Brittany Mahomes, who is very much into alternative type feeding. So I know she uses, I don't know what name brand or whatever, but they're literally, you know, four of your regular type foods. I think the freeze dried snuff that you're talking about, Adriana, is specified to each one of their dogs that's sent to them. So we really do have options here. And I'm seeing a lot of things going on. So it's good. My lifestyle is beautiful.

31:56 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. Right on. Well, Lisa, you've been in the rescue world and veterinary world for a long time. And if you're doing hospice cases, so seniors or middle aged dogs, even that have some sort of terminal disease process, have you seen some of these more holistic options support these guys that you've been helping?

32:24 Lisa: I fully believe that the holistic options are 100% the way to go when you're dealing with the seniors. I have had multiple dogs with cancer, my own and my hospice fosters. And every single time I have chosen not to go the chemo route or the medicine route, just because I didn't want to add to their issues. And my track record as of right now is them living at least two years longer by adding in holistic stuff. So I mean, I took in one hospice foster, her tummy was just huge. And I mean, she looked pregnant. And she was actually just riddled with cancer. And I took her to the vet. And I, you know, told them to, you know, give me their opinion. And they told me to let her go that day. And I said, I'm going to take her home, let her enjoy her weekend and see how it goes. And she lived two years longer. Just with me adding in acupuncture, I added in massage, I added in chiropractic, I do green lip muscle for their joints, I do salmon oil for their joints, all of those holistic things I believe in the natural things I believe will help like the cancer dogs way more than any of the other stuff. So it's a lot, but it's well worth it because they feel better. And you know, when they're riddled with cancer, they already don't feel good. So I don't like to pump things into their body that are going to make it worse.

34:06 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Well said. And what do you think rescue organizations need more of when it comes to pet health education?

34:16 Lisa: I think just probably more knowledge. And again, like I said earlier, like it's not a one size fits all situation. I know rescues, you know, live solely off of donations and all of that type of stuff. And but I've gotten a lot of hospice fosters in where they're like, here, feed them this. And I'm like, I am absolutely not feeding this dog this, you know, I'm like, I mean, they've given me grain free food for puppies. And I'm like, absolutely not. I'm not going to just set this dog off on the right on the wrong foot right away, you know. So I just think they have to be more aware of what, you know, the stage that the dog is, you know, whether it's midlife, hospice, whether it's a puppy, there's just more knowledge and that and actually like sitting down and thinking about the needs of each individual dog.

35:11 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And that's, that's absolutely it is trying to figure out how to balance what you have in terms of finances and donations with what each individual pet needs. Right. One of the things we haven't mentioned is that part of what's going to happen with Whole Pet So I don't like to pump things into their body that are going to make it worse on is we're going to give a portion of all of our ticket sales to the KC pet project, which is your biggest animal shelter in the area. And gosh knows they need they need help. I think shelters everywhere are just having a huge burden with a lot of pets being turned in. So we're so delighted to be able to support them and help them help more animals.

35:57 Catherine: I find that amazing. And thank you for being someone who's coming and bringing something exciting to our area, but giving back at the same time. I think this is something we love to do. And it's something we tend to take with us when we all go travel. I know I travel to a lot of away games. And I always try to bring something from here more than just my natural charm.

36:23 Dr. Ruth Roberts: No, sparkling personality.

36:29 Catherine: No, but something where they're like, they feel more connected. And so we really do appreciate that atmosphere of you. And you really looking at this from not just what you can give through your knowledge, but what you can give through other means to help out in our local community. We definitely know shelters I think like anybody else across the nation and probably the world. They are overflowing here. I know we've got a lot of folks that the whole debate, no kill shelter, kill shelters, all this going on. And at the end of the day, I think everybody just really wants to help these animals out. So again, really appreciate you doing that and having that connection with us. To that it's a lot too. So we go to the Whole Pet Con, we're learning all of this. What is the main takeaway as someone who's busy, you know, doesn't have all the time in the world the next day? The take away maybe I could get that is something I learned from this. I'm going to implement this. Hopefully that's going to make everything worth it. Do you have that kind of one thing or segment or subject?

37:47 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So you're, I think part of it's going to depend on where you are at the moment with your pets. So if you've got cats, the Cat Ladies are going to give you options about introducing fresh foods to your cats. That is to get a cat to change from kibble to either wet food or a fresh food diet. If you're dealing with not being sure how to start transitioning your dog to a fresh food diet, you're going to get some hints on that. You're going to get information where you can start to look at mushrooms, not only as a therapeutic, but a daily lifestyle enhancement for your pet to help them live their optimal lives. And then finally, you know, you'll get some information about how to use herbs in your dog's sort of retinue of supplements, and also how to pull together an emergency kit. So it just kind of depends on where you're coming from as to what's going to hit hardest. The other thing is, is I think having the ability to talk to some of our vendors and Catherine, you mentioned earlier, you know, Kansas City, Missouri has legalized marijuana for medical use and CBD products. We'll have vendors there that will help you understand how you could use CBD to support your pet for various health conditions. So I think what's important is if you come with a question about your dog or your cat that's really been bugging you, you're going to get some answers and you're going to know what to implement first.

39:33 Catherine: Beautiful. And I know I'm coming with one. As I mentioned, we have an older Akita. She's never liked her paws touched. There's nothing we can do, which makes it near impossible. I'm just going to say impossible to try to trim her nails on an over a hundred pound dog that she's as gentle a giant as one can be. You touch those paws and you just know you feel that she's yet to do it, but you know that's going to go overboard. So that's going to be my question is, what can we do? What can we give her? We're almost to the point of Benadryl, just something because she's older and these nails are growing out of control and we cannot get her to trim them. And we don't want to take her to the vet to do this because we think that has something to do with it as they got too aggressive when she was younger and she's traumatized now. So that's, we don't have to answer this. That is one of my questions I'm going to be bringing to the table at the conference for sure.

40:37 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And two quick things you can do. One is to get CBD and give her a little bit to make sure that she reacts well to it and without planning to do anything. And then when you're ready to trim her nails, I don't know if you use a Dremel or a grinder.

40:57 Catherine: A normal, I try to do something that's not going to make noise and I can just quick as possible. So because I think about the notice and things, she just gets anxiety on.

41:07 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Yeah. So sometimes that works because the cool thing is then you can just grab the nail and not the foot and use that grinder to take a little bit of the nail off. But once you're sure CBD is a good thing, then you can give a fairly decent dose, say somewhere around eight to 10 milligrams, let her chill out a little bit and then make the goal one nail and then the next time two nails.

41:32 Catherine: Really big ones that we need to, I mean, I feel for her. She's walking and turning. Yes. And I know it's uncomfortable for her, but yeah.

41:44 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And I think Dr. Aladdin will have some information too about what happens, what to do if a nail splits, for instance, because that's just like, ah, so painful to look at.

41:55 Catherine: That's awesome. So it sounds like all of us can get something out of this, even just the basic pet care. So definitely looking forward to that. As far as if someone's on the fence for some reason, you know, they've got vet expenses already. So just a couple questions here. The first one being, I know me, I think about eating more healthy as a human and immediately I'd say, yeah, well lettuce costs 10 times more than the burger that I'm paying for it at McDonald's or this and that, you know, the junk food is cheaper, unfortunately. So is this the same that we're seeing in the pet community? Does it add expenses if you go more towards the holistic, you know, grounded environment versus buying the dog food, you know, things of that nature?

42:54 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Well, it's kind of like, you remember those ads back in the 70s and 80s, you can pay me now, or you can pay me later. That's kind of the way to think about it. And unfortunately, the majority of pet food is, you know, Doritos with meat flavor, essentially. And I don't mean to say it so coarsely, but that's the reality. And you have to, I mean, things are a little difficult economically right now. So you got to do what fits your budget. And so my goal with this event is that regardless of where you are, what kind of finances you have, this is, it's a small investment to learn techniques so that you can do more at home instead of needing to go to the vet. So for many people that take the holistic approach, they may take a bigger investment up front, but the payoff down the road is you don't need to go back to the vet so frequently. And, you know, I don't know about y'all, but in most parts of the country, to go into a vet for any small problem, you're looking at a minimum of three to 500 bucks a visit. And so if you can learn to help kind of pre-solve those problems at home to the point where you may not need to go to the vet, that's a huge saving.

44:19 Catherine: Yeah, for sure. So it's definitely, I think, in the same as the human realm of things, preventative care now will help you save from actual reactionary type care later down the road. So thank you for that. I'm very excited for this. Real quick, I want to make sure, Lisa, Adriana, do you have any additional questions now for Dr. Roberts that you're just kind of intrigued about or maybe additional information that you're hoping to gain or hope that they will be covering here at this convention that's coming to us?

44:56 Adriana: Probably like the biting. She's, you know, biting me a lot.

45:03 Lisa: Her got baby teeth.

45:06 Dr Ruth Roberts: Right on.

45:10 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So that's part of how every young animal figures out its environment, right? But putting things in their mouth. And so there's a myriad of ways to go about sort of like redirecting her attention. So like grabbing a toy and like, "Hey, look at this," and getting her to let go of you and look around. I'm really old school. And so this may horrify a lot of the positive trainers out there. But for little dogs that are biting, I would turn the lip under. So they're like, "Oh, golly, that hurts." And one or two episodes of that, then they're generally like, "I don't think I want to do that anymore." So literally when she's biting your finger, I would take that lip and turn it under and give it a gentle squeeze so that her lip is like, "Ouch," While she's biting you. So she gets that that's not a pleasant experience for you as well. Does that make sense?

46:09 Adriana: Yeah. Yeah. And how, like, how... Oh, when can I maybe start training her or take her to a training school?

46:22 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So there's a ton of... So you don't want to go to a full fledged school really until she's got some protection against Parvo and that sort of stuff. But you can do things like go to a very underutilized dog park and just let her kind of watch what's going on. You can watch... There's tons of YouTube videos where you can start working on basic things like sits, stays, that kind of stuff. So really what you're doing at this stage of the game is just like with a child that's seven, eight, nine, you're teaching her basic manners about how you operate in the world. And once she's got the protection for Parvo virus, et cetera, then that's when you start going to official training classes. And Lisa, you probably have comments on that one too.

47:15 Lisa: Yeah. I was going to comment. I know you said it's old school. I do the same thing when my puppies bite me. I still have puppies, even though I have hospice too, but I do the same thing. I just twist and I stay out really in a high pitched voice because it gets their attention. So adding in the twist plus the high pitch, it'll get their attention and it's based off pretty quick. I mean, it only takes a time or two after that. But yeah, I think training is more for us than it is for the dog. Dogs are so ridiculously smart that it's mostly us that needs the training. So it's just honestly where you're at with training for the dog. I mean, you could teach a dog to sit in like two seconds, honestly, are you going to get a treat out and dogs are so willing, they just want to please you. So I think socialization is most important during those puppy stages. That's huge. That can like be make a break in dogs. I see it all the time. All right.

48:21 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Awesome. So you got your work cut out for you.

48:23 Lisa: You do. You have a toddler.

48:26 Catherine: The good news Adriana is for socializing Daisy, you've got that covered, honey. The's going to be socialized because her mama is socialized. So she's holding it there. I can't see Daisy becoming a non-socialized dog.

48:47 Catherine: She loves people. She loves people. She loves people. I love Dr. Ruth, by the way, that you made that connection of our animals really are a reflection of us. Cats, dogs, whatever. We've even got some people that own very exotic animals here in the Midwest. So I hope they understand they may get a lot out of this as well. Not just dog owners, not just cat owners, but really all types of pet owners. Go ahead and join us for that whole pet con convention that's going to be going on. So before we get into the last reminder of the convention, quick round of question, because again, our Chiefs are finally coming back. We've had some time often. Look, I'm a Royals fan. I'm a Casey sports fan. Don't get me wrong. I go to all the sporting events, but my boys in the red and gold are definitely my favorite here. So with that going on, I would like to ask, I'm going to start with you Adriana. Who is your favorite player?

49:55 Adriana: Travis, I mean, that's yeah, I don't have to say anything.

50:01 Catherine: And you are a Chiefs fan, right? Even though you come from the Cali environment. Yeah, you are officially Chiefs now.

50:09 Adriana: Yeah, I've been for it since, you know, since I would say started like hardcore, maybe for the second year that I that I lived here after I moved here. The first year is kind of getting like introduced and watching it getting into it. And then at the end of the season, I was like, okay, I'm sold out.

50:32 Catherine: It is hard to live in Kansas City and not become a Chiefs fan. Even if you're still a fan of another team. It's almost near impossible. It's hard not to love everything about it. Exactly. Oh my gosh, for sure. Lisa, yours. You can go old squad. You're way back there.

50:53 Lisa: I am way back there. But Chris Jones, Chris Jones. That's my guy.

50:59 Catherine: But understood, understood. All day every day. Okay. Dr. Roberts, have you followed enough of the Chiefs and do you have a favorite player?

51:10 Dr. Ruth Roberts: I have not. But what I love in reading about the Chiefs and reading about Patrick Mahoney and Travis Kelsey, they just look like they, you know, they're amazing professional players, but more importantly, they are very, very dedicated to the community. And I think that speaks volumes for both of them for the whole team, really.

51:34 Catherine: They truly are. And I think we have a lot of players that want to retire here and they stay here afterward. So I know for me, personally, I will take it back old school a little bit and even ex players, Lisa's going to know one of them because they're family to me. So of course, L'Jarius Sneed. He's going to be my favorite. That's like my brother. But outside of that, I am I'm the Tony G fan, Tony Gonzalez day and age. Loved him a cluster I loved. I used to call my vintage boys player out there my number 22. So I really love these players and all the Mcluster isn't with us. He's one that stayed in our community. He's still doing stuff within our community. Obviously, Tony G, I won't hold it against him that he retired with the Falcons. He should have retired while he's still here all the time and in our community. So those are probably my top three for the players that are with us right now. I'm with you, Lisa, probably Jones. He's a performer on the field and off the field. No matter what he's doing and saying he's comical. Yes, he was invited for sure. All right. Well, I predict we are making it back to the Super Bowl and I predict we're going to handle this time and actually show up for that game. And I'll probably go to the game because I also feel like maybe that was a little bit on me. I've been going to the Super Bowls and I didn't go this last year. So I'll be there. I promise my voice wasn't in the audience to get them geared up. So with that said, we appreciate you, Dr. Ruth Roberts for joining us and everybody coming in. Again, if you want to go ahead and tell us where we can get those tickets, what the convention's going to be, the dates and close this out.

53:35 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. So Whole Pet Con, Overland Park Convention Center, September 13th, starting at 8.30 in the morning, you can go get tickets at wholepetcon.com.

53:50 Catherine: Perfect. Thank you very much. I will be there. Lisa, I believe you will join us. Hopefully Adrian will come by, say hi. Unfortunately, they don't allow pets at the convention center. So we can't have that. But bring your wallets and your phone to slide through so we can all see the pets that you have.

54:10 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. Let's see the photos.

54:14 Catherine: See the photos. All right.

54:15 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Ladies, thank you so much.

54:17 Catherine: We're going to have you here in Kansas City.

54:21 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So excited to see you all very soon.

54:22 Lisa: Absolutely.

54:32 Catherine: Thank you so much. Thank you, Lisa and Adriana for joining us as well. Looking beautiful. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Can't wait to see you ladies soon. Bye.

54:51 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Thanks for listening to Healing Tails where pet parents become healers, one tail wag at a time. Want more tools and support? Head to DrRuthRoberts.com. Until next time, trust your gut, question the noise, and keep showing up for your pet.