Revolutionizing Pet Health with Stem Cells and Nutrition

1:16 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Welcome to Healing Tails, the podcast where pet parents become healers, one tail wag at a time. I'm your host, Dr. Ruth Roberts, and today's episode is going to be a lot of fun because it is packed with both inspiration and innovation. So first, I am truly thrilled to introduce to you Penny Wood, affectionately known as Dr. Zulittle. Penny is a longevity zoologist, a zoo welfare consultant, and the creator of Raw 360, a program that blends the wisdom of wild animals with cutting-edge longevity science to rewild pet health. From her Pet Longevity Academy to her work in cognitive ethology, Penny is redefining what it means for pets to thrive. She's also an international speaker and a passionate advocate for bridging the gap between wild animal behavior and domestic pet care. The other amazing guest we have joining us today is Mark Parsekian with over 35 years of experience in the natural food industry and expertise in traditional Chinese medicine. Mark has worked with animals of all kinds from cats to cows. He's also the co-founder of Go Natural Pets and co-formulator of PetRegen, a groundbreaking regenerative stem cell activator for pets. Mark's passion for educating others about the healing powers of nature and the potential of regenerative medicine is truly inspiring. Mark, Penny, welcome. Excited to have you here with us today.

2:02 Penny Wood: Thank you, amazing.

2:05 Dr. Ruth Roberts: So let's jump in real quick on this conversation about longevity because I think that the concept of healthspan being more important than lifespan is finally making it over to our end of the world. So if you don't mind, if each of you would share a little bit about your background and what inspired you to work on this concept of regenerative and longevity science for animals, that'd be amazing.

2:32 Penny Wood: If I can jump in, Mark. So for me, it was coming from the perspective as a zoologist and then crossing into the physical health space with animals. It's a different lens than probably most people who are in that environment. So because I was very familiar with the perfect scenario, the animals in the wild typically have very good health in terms of chronic diseases. They don't seem to suffer very much from those. It's more of the accident, injury, and predation type of stuff. So I knew about this ideal model. And then when I was in the captive environment with the zoos and with friends, with pets and my own animals and talking with vets, you suddenly hear that chronic disease is the big issue. And I was like, "Something's not right in my head here. I think there's an answer waiting to be uncovered." And it was when I was looking at chronic kidney disease and speaking to a vet who just was, in my opinion, a little bit dismissive and just went, "Oh, it's totally normal that cats when they get older will develop this disease." And I went red alert in my head, "I disagree. I don't think it is perfectly normal. I think it might be common, but that doesn't make it normal." Because I was like, "Do you know what? Because out there they don't." So then it was the question for me of what is the difference then between why wild animals don't have chronic diseases and ones in captivity do. And I said, "Is it the domestication process? Is there something that when we transform a wild animal to a domestic, that they adopt this kind of weakness, if you like?" But no, it's not because we have the same thing in the zoos. So the cheaters in captivity would get chronic kidney disease. The ones in the wild were A-OK. So I was like, "Right. It's clearly a human thing. What are we doing, right, or doing wrong that is missing a B in terms of providing those felids with what their biology is requiring is robust." And so that was the start of the snowball for me. And then I was like, "Do you know what? That's not just a one-time thing. This happens across all kinds of scenarios. What can we do then to put together a welfare or a husbandry package? How do we look after the animal that we look to deliver quality of life as well as quantity of life?" And that was the bit that was missing. Because it was always like, "Well, let's just fix that pain problem. Let's just make your day exciting today with a new toy." But it was this short-sighted approach of fighting a fire every day rather than building a system and lifestyle that says, "Do you know what? You can have both worlds with one mechanism because when you optimize health, you automatically extend life. It's just how it goes." So you get two for one by fixing one particular issue. So for me, that was like, "Oh my gosh, we can game change animal welfare. And this could be for every species that God ever made." And this is just so transferable and easy to do.

5:30 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. Right on. And Mark, how about you? How did you come to really love regenerative medicine concepts?

5:40 Mark Parsekian: It actually came from my own personal experience as a young kid. I had a lot of allergies and my parents were pretty alternative. They went to a lot of natural things. Growing up in the Boston area, it was kind of a bastion for a lot of natural products, etc. Macrobiotics, Michio Kushi, and a number of other people that we were pretty close to. So I had really bad allergies. I was getting allergy shots on a weekly basis. And my mother encouraged me to look into other alternatives such as superfoods like spirulina back in the 70s was really taking off, florella, bee pollen, etc. So I started using that as a young kid. And I was an athlete. I was a runner in high school. I was state champion. I ran in college. And so a lot of the medications, the allergy medications were really affecting my ability to focus as well as energy. And I noticed that when I switched over and were taking these superfoods, it made a huge difference. So that was really the foundation that came to me. And I figured, and as I got older, I just kind of carried that over and I looked for companies and opportunities where I would really promote superfood products for people and that it actually progressed into pets.

7:03 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Amazing. So what I like about what you're attempting to do with this product is to make regenerative medicine essentially available to everyone. I did stem cell implants in practice and they were amazing, but not cost-effective and or not, I shouldn't say that they weren’t cost-effective, but they were quite costly. And more importantly, they're not accessible by everybody. So let's talk a little bit about the science of how stem cells work to repair and regenerate tissues and pets.

7:39 Penny Wood: I love stem cells because I think of them as a blank check. With a blank check, you can fill in what you want and then go get it. It's really nice. Doesn't often happen, but when it does, it's amazing. So here's the biological version of that. You can say these are the things that are broken in the body. Broken is in there's decreased functionality because of disease, because of injury, because of whatever cause, but something now that was optimal is now compromised as a limitation. Instead of putting a band-aid on that or just decreasing symptomology, we can actually rebuild. That’s regenerative medicine it rebuilds and heals the way the immune system was programmed to do when the body was biologically young. So we have two healing mechanisms in the body. We have stem cells, which when you're young, they're abundant, they're everywhere, and they're getting on with the job of doing new for old. So it's the best kind of insurance policy that you can have because it's like, "Oh, that one got broken. Okay. Well, get rid of that. Here's a brand spanking new one. It's going to work perfectly." Once the stem cells start to decrease in the flow in the body, we have healing mark two that steps in. So this is then the repair mechanism rather than the replace. So it's like putting a patch on the tire with a puncture instead of a new tire. So now we have scar tissue. So scar tissue is sealing up the problem, connecting the bits that were broken, putting a plug on it. But the big limitation with scar tissue is it's not vascular. There is no blood flow that goes through scar tissue. So you have functionally dead tissue on the other side, not necrotic and decaying that needs to be cut out, but functionally dead. So you've got a limitation. You've got loss of function. Over time, that increases until you have poor results in your health or mobility or whatever it happens to be. Stem cells mean you can go back, no matter what age you are, you can go back to healing mode 1.0, which is that advanced new for old, it's going to restore all functionality. And it's all happening without anything synthetic, without any negative. I can't say none, but almost no. The risk of side effects is so inconsequential and the outcomes are so magnified because it's not a case of, "Well, just have it and it'll work for eight hours like a pharmaceutical will." It's put it in the body and what you continue to work over days and even weeks and even months, because it's going to talk to other cells in that environment, there is excreting all of this chemical information that is then programming other cells to jump on board with this new program and do the replacement. So you are building new tissue, building new operational bits of the body to have full proper healing. I think it's amazing.

10:36 Dr. Ruth Roberts: I agree. And I think that one of the most misunderstood concepts of what stem cells are doing is just restoring appropriate communication between cells. So that's, okay, stem cells, but when do we stop making them as well as we used to, at what age for people, roughly?

10:57 Penny Wood: It's around 30 years old in people, the same as probably quite a number of things. You kind of have that peak in the 20s of physicality and functionality, you've stopped growing and now you're kind of in that optimal place of everything's possible, heal in an instant, do whatever you want, you're invincible. For our pets, that translates to about two years old, depends a little bit on the size of the breed with cats is a bit more consistent, but you're looking at one or two. So it happens really quickly for our pets. And then there's the, that we've had the peak and now we're going into that slow decline. Now, depending on what other factors are happening, that decline might be quite rapid because if they've built up a whole lot of toxicity, if you're living in an environment where there are a lot of threats, if you're vaccinating and medicating and anesthetizing regularly, those things are going to have an impact if there's an injury. So it's very lifestyle dependent, what that downward curve looks like, whether it's kind of or tapering gently, but it's about the two year mark where you want to start thinking actually less preventatively, proactively and preventatively introduce these cells to keep the circulating number at a decent level so that any threat that comes along can be buffed off without you even realizing that your pets encountered that risk. It becomes kind of invisible, but it works. And then over time you compare that with animals that don't do that proactive work, and you can see a massive difference in some of the physiology, some of the morphology, but also in the behavior, in the gait and what others are the signs that show you that. But it's really earlier than most people think.

12:36 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And that's why I wanted you to bring that up because we think, "Oh, we're good till 40 or 50." And we think for our pets, "Oh, they're good till they're seniors, right, till they're seven." But the truth is, all of these factors that can create a massive health problem when they're eight, nine, 10 are already at work, even between two, three, four, five years of age. So I think that is so critical for people to understand that longevity, you don't start worrying about that when you're 60. You start worrying about it when you're 35 or 40. And the same thing for our pets, two, three years of age is a great time to start bringing in strategies that are going to help your pets stay healthy. Because if we wait until they're sick, it's a whole lot harder to get things sorted out.

13:32 Penny Wood: It's harder, slower, and a lot more expensive in terms of actual dollars to do that. You either invest in wellness, right? We've heard this before, you invest in wellness preventatively, or you pay heavy for illness. The choice is yours, right? But there's the emotional cost too, because you don't want to see your pets suffering. And you don't want to go through that journey of having a broken heart and stressing about this and having to constantly be sort of tethered to the vet. You can't go on holiday with it because something might happen. All of that stuff takes its toll. And then you have the animal itself. But the animal is now suffering and it didn't need to, because you could have done the preventative work that meant that it had all those shields of protection and visibility working with the biology to just improve welfare.

14:20 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And so one of the things that I like what you're doing with the supplement is actually helping, giving the body the raw materials it needs to be able to produce stem cells more efficiently and effectively. But there's a few other things that play as well in this supplement. So Mark, if you can talk a little bit about how you started pulling this supplement together and actually you're hitting on a lot of different issues that many pets are facing.

14:50 Mark Parsekian: Yeah, it's a great story. I mean, I've always loved pets. I've had pets most of my life. But when you... And I'm kind of a dabbler, and I see what works with humans. So I started experimenting with pets. And that's how this whole thing kind of worked. And with another close friend of mine that's quite more experienced as a scientist, as well as a neurophysiologist, et cetera. And we just started playing with various, what they call functional ingredients, such as blue-green algae, medicinal mushrooms, seaweed, bladderwax, et cetera. Really, it's the active ingredient in our formulation. And it took years to be able to put this together, because it's not just a matter of finding the active ingredients. It's also a matter of what the pets will be willing to take, whether it's taste-wise or smell-wise. So it's a very delicate balance to be able to create something that's very effective, affordable as well. I mean, these are all human-grade ingredients as well. So we want the very best for our pets, and that's what we've created. But it's trial and error, and whether your dog might love it, like a lab will eat anything, right? But your cat or a certain type of breed, a dog or whatever, might not touch it because it just doesn't smell good. And we just wanted to have something that really would really appeal across the board. So we've had people that have given it to their horses, their ponies, chickens, cats, cows, dogs, et cetera. And it's an amazing thing because pretty much across the board, it really affects all animals relatively the same way.

16:43 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Right on. And that's how I like it, which is, I mean, that's the first thing for her. It's like, are you going to eat this? Okay, good. Now we can really see if it will be helpful or not. So we're sort of in that trialing period. But as I mentioned earlier, we started Pet Regen along with some photo modulation, and we're starting to see her play and be more active and actually able to decrease more of the prescription meds that she's had to take, unfortunately. So we'll see where things go, but I really love what you're doing because if we can help these guys, middle-aged, older, start to create more stem cells on their own, then we have a whole different set of tools to help support them with a good health span.

17:38 Mark Parsekian: Can I just add something quickly? Also, there is sometimes confusion. People think that this is a supplement that has stem cells in it. And I just want to clear that up that it actually has no stem cells, but these are plant-based ingredients that actually have been shown scientifically. They have the studies behind it that when you ingest it for humans as well as animals, it releases stem cells from their own bone marrow. So I just really want to make that point very apparent that sometimes there is that confusion. And we feel so strongly about the effectiveness of this product that it is 100% guaranteed. So it's just really a matter of experiencing it and see what it does because it's amazing the different benefits that you can see from it, from all kinds of testimonials that I can share later if you'd like.

18:34 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And that's a great point because essentially what you're doing is giving the raw materials to help the body do its job more efficiently, which is amazing. So Penny, you are working a lot with nutrition in terms of longevity. So if you could make a few comments, because that's like we could talk for oh, 12 or so hours about this, right? But how does diet influence cellular health and also help to improve the success if we're actually doing stem cell therapy or just priming the body to be more efficient in its production of stem cells?

19:12 Penny Wood: Right. So species appropriate diet. So we can talk about food and nutrition to the cow's gun point, but at the end of the day, an animal's biology is governed by who they are as a species. So when I'm talking about nutrition, I'm always advocating for species appropriate nutrition, which is then bioavailable for their body and tailored for that animal's particular needs. So when we do that, that's the raw materials going in to build the body. So the body is constantly regenerating. Aside from a regenerative medicine approach where you're deliberately trying to harness some of that, it's constantly regenerating. In humans, it's about seven to 10 years and we've got a brand new body, right? Because various cells have their lifespan, three days for a skin cell, 10 years for a bone cell. So you get turnover. So without the right nutrients going in, you can't build another body, right? So protein, we are protein. We're not carbohydrate. We're a little bit mineral, but we're not really vitamins and minerals. We're protein. So we must consume protein to build the body. So for our carnivore pets, the cats and dogs, one's a facultative carnivore, that's the dog. The other's an obligate carnivore, that's the cat. So protein is essential and must be really high in their diet to provide the raw materials to rebuild a body, the raw materials to function at top notch, but also it's the fuel to run the factory. So you can have an amazing factory, raw materials are going in. There's a plant there to do it all. But if you don't turn the machines on, run that convey about and get the robots doing whatever they do, nothing's coming out the other end, right? So you've got to power that with energy. So we've got caloric intake with our nutrition, and that has to be appropriate to, again, the animal, their life stage, how old are they, how active are they, and what's their body condition at the moment? Because we don't want to overload with calories and then end up with an overweight body because there's health implications there. But we don't want to starve an animal like that, right? So there's a little bit of science that has to be worked out, but there are some really simple formulas that you can use to do that and simplify it. But you get the daily essential nutrients, which are the things that an animal requires that they cannot make themselves. The essential part is that the body can't make it. And that changes from species to species. That's another reason why species appropriateness is so important. So daily essential nutrients to do what the body is required to run at optimal level, the raw materials to regenerate, build and whatever, and the fuel to have energy. Get that right. And you've done so much of the heavy lifting of what it is that an animal requires to thrive and to thrive long-term. Nutrition is inescapably important when it comes to health and longevity. And I have it as pillar number one in my seven pillars of animal longevity for exactly that reason.

22:10 Dr. Ruth Roberts: And that's exactly it. I think that's what all of us, if you've been in the functional medicine world or the longevity field for any length of time, it's crystal clear that if you haven't dialed in an appropriate diet for that animal, for that person, everything else you're going to do is either not going to work or not work as well as it ought to. So thanks for bringing that in because I think it's just... Unfortunately, what's happened in a lot of the holistic world is that we're in that same mindset. I'll take this supplement for this problem instead of really getting into the whole system and improving the entire system of function. So one of the things that you've been working on, Mark, is using PET regen to help bridge the gap between traditional veterinary care and innovative therapies like stem cell treatment. So can you talk a little bit about that and how using something like this might shift a pet parent's train of thought?

23:20 Mark Parsekian: Yeah. I mean, dealing with the vets, and I just want to say how much I appreciate you and the people that you've really helped educate because veterinarians, very similar to the human model with the MDs, it's not always easy to really open their eyes. But results speak for themselves. So eventually when veterinarians and when pet parents see the results, you can't argue with them, and animals don't have placebo effects. So oftentimes you'll see that the pet parents will do... Really, they'll do anything for their pet. And that's really a beautiful thing because oftentimes they'll spend more money and time on their pet than they will in themselves. And that's where the learning process begins because when they see the effect that PET regen, for example, has on their dog or their cat or whatever animal it is, they begin to see the cause and effect relationship between diet, nutrition, and stem cells and so forth. And then it opens their mind to say, "Well, maybe it will help me if I change my lifestyle as well." And so you have this back and forth teaching experience, but it's pretty phenomenal because people... You don't really know what the trigger is to get a person to be open. And it could be the relationship, it could be the product. And it's really about... I think it comes from one's heart, just by sharing what we've seen with PET regen and how it can affect your animal, but particularly pet parents, they're very mission motivated. And when they see something that works, they just want to share it with other pet parents because they love their animals so much and they want the best for their animals.

25:15 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Well said. So where can our audience learn more about PET gen, RAW 360, and the services that you're offering?

25:28 Mark Parsekian: Penny,, I'll let you take it from there.

25:31 Penny Wood: Well, certainly for the animal welfare program that I run and the other teaching things, I have an animal anti-aging course and we have forever young membership for people. So all of that can be found through Drzoolittlel.co, which is my website, or @Drzoolittlel on Instagram. So the link in bio has all of that stuff. You can just very simply go there and click through. That will take you through whatever options. For PetREGEN, you need to go to the site, which is petregen.com. And there's loads of science as well as information about the product. It's beautifully illustrated and there's some videos there that will fill in maybe a little bit of the additional information about stem cells as well.

26:10 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Amazing. So last question. What is the one thing you hope listeners will take away from this conversation about the future of pet health and wellness?

26:22 Penny Wood: For me, I love to tell people or remind people that the conventional way of thinking is one toolkit with a lot of limitations. There is always, and I mean that, there is always more that we can do to help our pets. It's just a matter of finding the people who have those answers. That can be a little tricky, but it's worth the effort to do that because suddenly all these doors, like what we've talked about today with stem cells, just open up and you've never heard anyone talk about that before. Or you did, but you thought it was a $10,000 injection that was inaccessible for you. The right people have the ability to get a key out and unlock so many opportunities and solutions and therapies that you have never heard of. Take that time to dig a little deeper and do not accept the thing. There's nothing more we can do because that is a cop-out excuse. I'm pretty blunt about that because I believe animals are worth more than just resigning yourself to the fact that science can't support them. Science can, it does. The wild animals already know how to do it. We just need to bring it into how we look after our pets. So chase the information. At the end of the day, remember that you are doing incredible things for your pets. You're in the top 1% of pet parents in the world, generally speaking, because you are here learning this stuff. They are so lucky to have you. They don't need you to know everything because you already love them so much. That's the most important part of the whole piece.

28:00 Dr. Ruth Roberts: Beautifully said.

28:00 Mark Parsekian: Mark, if you get some questions. I'd just like to add, pet parents are really advocates. Especially the people that are working with you, Dr. Ruth, when they find things that work, they want to share it. That's one thing I've realized as well. I've gone to many dog parks. I've made a lot of friends, and I'm amazed at how many people are just feeling hopeless that their animal has an issue and they go to a vet and they're just prescribed medication. There are other alternatives. We offer hope and a different way of looking at life for their pets as well as themselves. There's a lot of opportunity out there. When people see results, they are passionate. They want to just spread the word. It's really a great opportunity.

28:51 Dr. Ruth Roberts: That's exactly why the Holistic Pet Health Coach certification program was created, because we need more people out there offering more options for pet parents. Thank you both so much for spending time today. This has been a fun conversation. I think if you are seeing your young to middle aged pet just not quite look right, this may be an option that you want to pursue. Until next time, we'll have another episode of Healing Tales coming up soon with more amazing information and speakers. 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 p