Sean Zyer: Is CBD For Cats Safe? | E30

[00:00:00] So what happens with cats or dogs or even us is if we have lots of stress, if we have, you know,

[00:00:07] for overweight, if we have lifestyle issues, if we are exposed to all kinds of different

[00:00:14] insults from toxins, you name it, our endocannabinoid system and our cats for this matter

[00:00:21] will become deficient or not function as properly as it should. So what we can do is we

[00:00:28] can take a plant extract or a botanical extract like CBD and when they ingest it, it engages that system

[00:00:37] and kind of reminds that system, hey we need to balance some stuff out because stuff is out of whack here.

[00:00:50] Welcome to the Pet Care Report podcast by Pet Summits. Here's your natural cat health care host

[00:00:57] Dr. Megan Barrett. Welcome back everybody to the Pet Care Report. I'm here with our special guest today,

[00:01:03] Sean Zier and we're going to be talking about CBD and other helpful supplements for cats.

[00:01:08] So Sean is the co-founder of EarthBuddy which is inspired by the remarkable improvement in his 13-year-old

[00:01:16] Kali Mix Kiva's health from hemp and whole food based supplements. Kiva's transformation which

[00:01:22] included medicinal mushrooms and full spectrum CBD led to EarthBuddy's inception in 2016. The company

[00:01:29] born from a desire to offer quality natural pet supplements collaborates with PhD scientists

[00:01:35] and regenerative farms to create leading edge cannabinoid products. So welcome Sean and super

[00:01:41] excited to chat today. Yes hi Dr. Barrett, thanks for having me. For sure so I can't wait to

[00:01:47] hear about everything that you've learned through owning this company and creating these products.

[00:01:54] So let's talk about one of the big products that you sell and create which is CBD and how

[00:02:03] it's used in cats. Yeah so cats are very different than dogs and I think sometimes when we look at

[00:02:12] pet supplements as a whole we kind of just broad stroke both species and unfortunately

[00:02:19] cats get the short end of the stick on that. So cats are very tricky you know first and foremost

[00:02:25] I think they're much more pickier and at the same time even if we try to make things more

[00:02:35] palatable for them it's still a 50-50 shot whether a cat is going to like it or not. So

[00:02:42] in formulating products for cats our philosophy on that was really let's just make it as simple

[00:02:49] as possible. So in terms of when we look at all of our supplements one we want to keep it

[00:02:58] very clear on what's in it and then also creating really simple ways to incorporate it into their food.

[00:03:07] Cats you know are pretty smart when it comes to their nose and if they smell something off

[00:03:14] they might not even touch it and so there's a little bit of anxiety or stress that comes

[00:03:20] with giving cat supplements so we want to make that as easy as possible. So that's kind of

[00:03:25] a starting point whenever I talk to cat owners about introducing a supplement not just hemp

[00:03:31] but also you know anything under the sun that is added to their food. Definitely so explain to us

[00:03:38] what CBD is and some of the benefits of using it as a supplement for your cat. Yeah so you'll

[00:03:45] have to keep me on track because I want to always start at the beginning so when I started this

[00:03:50] company the reality was is not many people knew what these molecules were coming from.

[00:03:58] So cannabis produces all these different molecules and basically everybody knew cannabis as the

[00:04:07] plant that produces THC the high causing compound and they forgot about this really

[00:04:14] unique and beneficial compound called cannabidiol and that's the full name of the molecule and when

[00:04:23] it's produced in the plant it's produced as a acidic form or natural form called CBDA

[00:04:32] and then what companies do like EarthBuddy is we pull that out of the plant or what's called

[00:04:38] extraction and we pull that out of the plant in a safe way and then we heat it up and that activates

[00:04:45] the cannabidiolic acid to CBD which is cannabidiol. CBD is the non-high causing molecule or we say

[00:04:55] non-intoxicating and what it's been shown to do is it engages the natural cannabinoid system

[00:05:03] that all mammals have. Mainly the main purpose people come to CBD especially for cats and dogs

[00:05:12] is primarily stress or anxiety and you know secondary to that or 1a to that would be

[00:05:21] pain or discomfort is typical reasons people come to this molecule. What we do know is that

[00:05:28] there's a lot of good research on cats and dogs specifically and in cats I can talk about some

[00:05:34] of the research that is recent on what they're seeing just in terms of how these molecules

[00:05:40] interact with the cat system and what the cat system and how it differs from you know dogs

[00:05:47] and even us. Yeah that's a great overview and I know that in dogs we use CBD for seizures

[00:05:54] do you know if there's any info for that in cats? Definitely and you know the first place I want to

[00:06:00] start with that is the latest research that we've reviewed and CSU here in Fort Collins because we're

[00:06:07] in Colorado they are doing some phenomenal research on dogs and cats and one of the

[00:06:15] latest research studies was on tolerability of cannabinoids and specifically CBD with cats

[00:06:21] and what they found is even at extremely high doses I think it was something like 80 milligrams

[00:06:27] in a single dose cats were tolerating it overall really well there was no severe adverse events

[00:06:34] now granted this is a purified form this isn't like a natural plant extract and even then some of

[00:06:43] the some of the you know things they viewed in these studies were that they foam or they

[00:06:50] salivate but cats typically do that when you put something in their mouth that they don't want

[00:06:55] and that's common with with all drugs I'm sure you know as a vet but yeah the the general idea

[00:07:04] with with cats is that they have an abundance of cannabinoid receptors so we all have this

[00:07:12] system called the endocannabinoid system and the way I describe it is it's like a conductor

[00:07:17] of an orchestra and so it's not doing any it's not playing a specific instrument but it's keeping the

[00:07:24] flow and the harmony of all those different functions in the body and it's a chemical balancing

[00:07:29] system so what happens with cats or dogs or even us is if we have lots of stress if we have you

[00:07:36] know for overweight if we have lifestyle issues if we are exposed to all kinds of different

[00:07:44] insults from toxins you name it our endocannabinoid system and our cats for this matter will become

[00:07:52] deficient or not function as properly as it should so what we can do is we can take a plant extract

[00:08:00] or a botanical extract like CBD and when they ingest it it engages that system and kind of

[00:08:08] reminds that system hey we need to balance some stuff out because stuff is out of whack here

[00:08:12] and what we're finding with cats and what I've seen in the research is that there's an abundance of these

[00:08:18] receptors in the body specifically in the gut and I have a theory about that and I'm curious to

[00:08:25] know what you think is I think one of the reasons why we see an abundance of these receptors in

[00:08:31] the gut is due to the fact that they have a very fast digestive process they move food along

[00:08:39] much faster and they're able to tolerate much more so that's kind of my theory on it is that

[00:08:44] those receptors in that system has to be very it has to perform very well in that environment when

[00:08:52] they're passing things through very quickly but it also you know at the same time if they're feeding

[00:08:57] low quality diets and stuff can be affected much more quickly as well yeah but the digestion

[00:09:03] having those receptors there since the gut has a lot to do with balancing your nervous system

[00:09:09] maybe it has to do with that as well yeah I think there's I mean with with all of us people

[00:09:15] dogs cats our gut is the root of our health and it's it's so funny I talk a lot about you know

[00:09:24] the gut brain access and why we address the gut with a lot of our products simply because

[00:09:31] if we can address gut issues and inflammatory responses in the gut a lot of times that

[00:09:37] balances mood yeah it goes back and forth so your gut will influence your nervous system which then

[00:09:43] influences your immune system and everything else and then in turn your nervous system will affect

[00:09:49] your gut so it's very important to support all those systems absolutely very cool so

[00:09:55] it's really nice to know that it's very hard to overdose or basically sounds at this time

[00:10:01] it's impossible to overdose on CBD obviously if you're using a product that's designed for cats

[00:10:07] that's I think a higher confidence level you could have with that some human products might have

[00:10:13] additives that may not be safe for cats so just keep that in mind too that if there's other essential

[00:10:19] oils or other flavor additives do be careful with making sure that what you're giving to your

[00:10:25] cat is designed for cats you know Dr. Barry you bring up an amazing point so many human

[00:10:31] products have sweeteners and things like xylitol which are toxic to animals but

[00:10:39] and not to mention contaminants also yes and we can get it yeah we can get into like how these

[00:10:44] products are processed which is kind of not something to just scare people away from but

[00:10:51] the reality is is you know even just incorporating essential oils it's a lot to put on a product

[00:10:59] when you add these essential oils even because they're plant extracts so well you know like I started

[00:11:06] with when we when we formulate our product for a cat specifically an oil which is where people

[00:11:11] mostly go when it comes to cats um keeping it as simple as possible just in coconut oil or

[00:11:18] MCT oil was really where we came out because if we start adding or you know pixie dusting as I

[00:11:24] call it with essential oils these are really complex plant extracts and a lot of times essential

[00:11:30] oils are very very concentrated so if I'm putting something into a cat's body it's really complicated

[00:11:38] on you know what is actually helping and how are they going to respond because the biggest

[00:11:44] thing I talk about with any um plant extract or botanical as I call them is

[00:11:51] every person and every cat and dog is different they are individuals and we want to know exactly

[00:11:58] what's going in them and that's why we third party lab test things so when you're talking about

[00:12:02] contaminants we want to know exactly what's going in with them and when we start adding more and

[00:12:07] more things into it it really becomes hard and more of a moving target of like what is

[00:12:13] actually working what actually made them kind of have an adverse event um so we want to

[00:12:18] um so we want to keep it as simple and as clean as possible um and yeah back to the contaminants

[00:12:24] thing you really have to understand that companies should be testing on a regular basis

[00:12:30] um you know most companies now including us are putting qr codes so you can scan them and

[00:12:36] go right to their lab tests and there should be you know um the contaminant testing

[00:12:42] done pretty regularly or at least up to date within a year um because sometimes that's you

[00:12:47] know a forgotten part of it and and I'm not asking pet parents to understand lab tests

[00:12:52] but just to know that that company is transparent and willing to share that I think is a very

[00:12:57] important uh point to make yeah I think so too and uh you know I have a lot of folks who will

[00:13:02] come in with their pet already on some CBD oil which I think is a great thought process to

[00:13:08] add that on as a supplement for some of those issues that we talked about but I'd say 90% of

[00:13:12] the time when they show me the product they're using there's no um certificate of analysis there's

[00:13:18] no real legitimacy that I can find to it and a lot of times it's ones that they got at like a

[00:13:23] trade show or a smoke shop or a gas station or something and um a lot of those products are

[00:13:28] lower quality and they are actually made with byproducts from the human hemp industry

[00:13:33] and they can contain things like molds and heavy metals and other contaminants that would

[00:13:37] obviously cause a lot more harm than good yes and and just for you know just for uh referencing

[00:13:45] like earth buddy um we're in Colorado and because we are vertically integrated we grow and manufacture

[00:13:52] we're very regulated here in Colorado so I'll give you kind of two examples

[00:13:57] because we grow and manufacture here we are required by the Department of Health to test

[00:14:02] a certain way at this current time right now in 2024 which is weird to say there is no regulation on

[00:14:10] pet products none there's no requirement for us to test any way possible um now if we on the human

[00:14:18] side which we do make human products um there is requirements for testing and we we follow

[00:14:24] those guidelines for the human requirements but testing for microbials and potency at

[00:14:30] minimum is the starting point but when you grow you actually have to test for things like pesticides

[00:14:36] heavy metals because hemp is a bio accumulator meaning it sucks up impurities from the dirt

[00:14:42] and you know furthermore like mycotoxins like you're saying mold those kind of things so we

[00:14:48] are required to test for all of that being a vertically integrated company if I'm just

[00:14:53] a the other example I wanted to give is like if I'm just Joe Schmoe and I want to create

[00:14:58] a product and I live in you know let's say Virginia if they source it from Colorado there's no requirement

[00:15:05] for them to test that product whatsoever and they can test however they feel and there's no

[00:15:11] lab requirements that's the other kind of dirty little secret but um we have really good cannabis

[00:15:17] testing labs and natural product testing labs and then we've taken it a step further where

[00:15:22] we actually have an in-house lab that we kind of bounce things back and forth with the with the

[00:15:28] third party labs that we work with so it's a really nice way to confirm that when people buy something

[00:15:34] they know what they're getting and this is something that's kind of branched off into

[00:15:37] products that I take now it's like how many of the products that are in my vitamin cabinet

[00:15:42] you know actually have what they say is in it and it's nice that you know at least the pet

[00:15:48] side has really kind of forced us to look at our own products yeah absolutely okay so circling back

[00:15:55] to the species differences are there any specific conditions where CBD is more effective for dogs

[00:16:02] versus cats and vice versa you know they're the the funny thing is is the tolerability was

[00:16:08] kind of an issue that I saw in the latest studies um the the other one was that there is

[00:16:19] some really cool studies coming around with seizures and you know I don't obviously you

[00:16:25] know most most products are geared more towards dogs but we don't think about cats having seizures

[00:16:32] as well and it's hard to figure out what is the root cause of seizures a lot of times and it's always

[00:16:39] a moving target depending on the type of seizures and these neurological issues what I've what I you

[00:16:45] know what we've looked at through the research is that there's some real good evidence to show that

[00:16:52] this can help a lot of these neurological responses in the body in cats specifically

[00:17:01] again I think it goes back to that there's this abundance of receptors in the gut

[00:17:07] and that when we're engaging that system or activating that system we're able to modulate

[00:17:12] these huge shifts of up and down and mood swings and as we know cats are going to be a little bit

[00:17:19] more sensitive to things sometimes and especially when it comes to diet and changing things

[00:17:25] I think we can really engage that system in a healthy naturally safe way as opposed to just

[00:17:33] jumping right into more of the traditional interventions of drugs and you know things like

[00:17:38] that so from a gut motility gut inflammation standpoint I think starting there with cats

[00:17:46] is such a good benefit and then you know we can get into even further with different molecules

[00:17:53] that the plant produces beyond just CBD yeah can you tell us about those yeah so one in particular

[00:17:59] that I really have been digging into lately is specifically CBG CBG is produced in all cannabis

[00:18:08] plants and then when the plant flowers or buds they all convert into these other molecules whether

[00:18:14] you're growing it for THC or CBD etc so CBG has now been a topic for specifically irritable bowel

[00:18:26] issues so cats I see this a lot in cats and I'm sure you do in your practice as well and again

[00:18:34] it's like there's a lot of different things we can throw at it but ultimately I think if we know

[00:18:40] that there's an abundance of these receptors in there I think it would be a great starting point

[00:18:44] the other thing I find with CBG is that it is much less sedative and so sometimes people that come to

[00:18:52] a CBD product they get a heavy sedation and for cats they don't need a huge dose because they're

[00:18:58] just smaller physically I like CBG as a good starting point because it's going to be a little

[00:19:06] bit less sedative and then there's also some good research on how it relaxes the musculoskeletal system

[00:19:13] so relaxing that overall musculoskeletal system is a little bit different than relaxing their

[00:19:21] neurological mood balancing chemicals yeah I wonder how it would affect the smooth muscle of

[00:19:27] the gut yeah it it's interesting yeah and if they're if they're constantly getting upset or

[00:19:33] finicky with stuff or you know I talked to a lot of cat owners where you know they they'll have a cat

[00:19:41] eating something regularly and then all of a sudden they'll just stop and I think that's because

[00:19:46] their system is over and over just becoming irritated with it and they're like you know what

[00:19:52] they're really good at associating food with how they feel yeah you could imagine too if you're

[00:19:58] a cat with IBD or something and every day when you eat your stomach gets upset you know that's going

[00:20:04] to cause stress and even if the CBD only helps with the stress factor it might help to break the

[00:20:09] cycle of some of the the mood effects that it can have definitely and and I think when when we

[00:20:16] bring up all these different molecules like CBG or CBDA or CBD we don't sit there and say like

[00:20:23] this one is the best for this we really try to take this individual approach and offer different

[00:20:29] options for pet owners to go hey you can start here we can you know we can give you a smaller

[00:20:35] dose option we can give you a different form or formulation meaning whether it's a powder or

[00:20:42] an oil and giving them different options and saying hey start here and specifically start really low

[00:20:50] to not have these irritated or like traumatic experiences for the pet owner I think is a much

[00:20:57] better attitude towards any supplement than rather saying hey give this to them it's going to fix all

[00:21:04] their problems so what are the forms that like you said there's um liquid and powder for

[00:21:10] administering it yeah so primarily we lean towards the um oil forms for cats that's kind of my

[00:21:19] preference for any cat owner to start with just because mixing and food is really important so

[00:21:26] with all the studies that I've referenced and I'm happy to share them with you after this um

[00:21:31] most of them shown have shown that there's a huge benefit to giving this to them in a fed state

[00:21:38] or with food and they've shown um you know plasma levels and bioavailability levels

[00:21:46] almost tenfold in cats that are fed versus putting in their mouth and let's be honest

[00:21:51] putting a dropper near a cat's mouth with a plant extract like good luck um I've been around

[00:21:58] enough at my whole putting liquids that especially plant extracts in their mouth is is you're gonna

[00:22:05] you're asking for them to foam and you're asking them for you know to never go near you next

[00:22:09] time you have that bottle so you know making the enjoyable experience even in something like tuna

[00:22:16] juice or you know something yummy that is a special treat even I think is a really good way to

[00:22:23] to administer it yeah I love those cheery treats for giving medications yes so well like the

[00:22:29] little similar to tuna I call them gogurt yeah the gogurt for cats yes anything stinky that

[00:22:35] is um gonna be a little bit palatable is the best way because then one you can make it a treat and two

[00:22:42] they're not associating with this traumatic experience because they're gonna read our our

[00:22:46] stress level and giving it to them so you're not wasting a whole meal on them by uh you know

[00:22:52] just putting it right on top of the food yeah you might be able to get a little bit of CBD

[00:22:55] in their mouth like if you put it on your finger and rub it on their gums but uh if

[00:23:00] they're not feeling that you might get your finger a bit watch out yes or they hide in places that you

[00:23:06] can't reach them yeah there's two smart like that yeah so that's kind of step one is making the

[00:23:11] experience enjoyable and I and I address that with every pet is like if you can find a really easy

[00:23:19] way to get it in their body and maybe it's something you know from your fridge that you

[00:23:23] normally wouldn't give them but it's really palatable it's a piece of meat or something

[00:23:28] that was really yummy that they can you can just start with a drop even um I'd rather them start

[00:23:35] doing that for a week even maybe even 10 days because eventually that cat whether it's an irritable

[00:23:42] bowel issue or a high stress issue or they're going on travel if you can do that prior to

[00:23:49] what you're trying to address in a really low dose they're gonna start associating that with

[00:23:54] feeling better and even if you up the dosage a little bit I don't think it's going to be as big

[00:23:58] of a problem as putting a bunch on there and hoping for the best yeah definitely okay so you can just

[00:24:04] add it to their food then absolutely okay that's great I'm sure most people could manage to

[00:24:10] sneak a little bit in and see how it goes yeah and I and you asked like what are the other forms

[00:24:15] we also we also again because we were talking about the gut um we also incorporated into our

[00:24:21] colostrum product which is a powder it's just um it's really nice because it's stinky and it's got a

[00:24:29] the best way I explain it's got a very uh funky cheese vibe and sometimes um colostrum which is

[00:24:36] the first milk from cows is really potent and stinky and I'd say funky cheese or parmesan

[00:24:44] cheese is kind of the smell that I take away from it that usually can mask some of that and

[00:24:49] also we're we're balancing good and bad bacteria with colostrum so it's kind of a double whammy

[00:24:55] with that product as well cool can you tell us about some of your other products for cats yeah

[00:25:00] so colostrum is a big one um I think when we launched that product we had cats in mind initially

[00:25:08] but in general I think addressing the gut a lot of times when it comes to the main reason people

[00:25:14] are coming to our products is stress is if we can address the gut you know a lot of these um

[00:25:21] neurotransmitter chemicals that are made are made in the gut so serotonin being our mood balancing

[00:25:28] chemical is made in the gut primarily so if we're addressing kind of gut inflammation or upset

[00:25:35] tummies I think we can kind of knock two birds with one stone by one balancing good and bad

[00:25:42] bacteria because you don't want too much of either really and to you know settling their tummy when

[00:25:49] they're constantly upset or whether um they're having motility issues meaning moving it along

[00:25:56] or it's coming out too fast um we can really balance that out and then also address kind of the

[00:26:04] inflammatory response that they have in their guts to you know different things that they

[00:26:09] might have in the food that are you know are the pet parent can't pinpoint when you're feeding a kibble

[00:26:15] or something like that yeah definitely and then you guys have mushroom products as well right

[00:26:21] yes and you know we are not um again we are not like saying that you got a forced powder

[00:26:29] down your cat's mouth um we do have powder forms and we incorporate you know mushrooms and CBD

[00:26:34] and a capsule form that is in powder we've had phenomenal feedback on older cats with functional

[00:26:41] mushrooms specifically we use a blend of five different mushrooms that have been really well

[00:26:47] researched for a bunch of different um age related issues but specifically um we we just recently

[00:26:55] launched just a mushroom tincture and it's a um glycerin base which is alcohol free so then

[00:27:02] we don't have to worry about the palatability and then we also added elderberry which is sweet

[00:27:06] and sometimes cats are going to prefer something a little bit sweeter so adding the elderberry which

[00:27:11] is also a great antioxidant um full of good things in there we really can engage their

[00:27:20] histamine response number one so dealing with allergies um seasonal or environmental

[00:27:27] and you know with the gut again I always kind of go back to the gut um mushrooms act as a natural

[00:27:34] prebiotic for the gut so helping them kind of encourage to build their their natural immunity

[00:27:40] and good bacteria yeah definitely I think that most older cats could benefit from being on

[00:27:47] both mushrooms in CBD yeah and the reality is they live longer so their their age related stuff

[00:27:54] is going to be more prevalent um you know on the on the cannabinoid side we actually came up with a

[00:28:01] product um with CBN which is again another um lesser known molecule that the cannabis plant

[00:28:10] does not produce naturally it's actually converted from another molecule and what we

[00:28:16] created that product was for cats with kind of sundowners so we we joke all the time we call

[00:28:23] you know the ninja cat where that you know likes to hunt in the middle of the night

[00:28:27] and their perception of night and day starts to you know get a little bit confused in those

[00:28:33] older cats and we call it sleep support because it's just a little bit more sedative to help

[00:28:38] them get more restful sleep so they're up during the day and they're not uh running around your

[00:28:43] house bouncing off walls and trying to hunt things when you're sleeping and then at the

[00:28:48] same time um with with the mushrooms I think you know there's a lot of good research on

[00:28:57] just age related cognitive issues so you know cats living longer they're going to age quite a bit

[00:29:04] in those later years we want to keep their brain healthy as we possibly can and incorporating

[00:29:10] something like functional mushrooms is is a great tool I think yeah and the antioxidant effects

[00:29:16] of mushrooms too is good to reduce that oxidative stress that's happening with age 100 percent I mean

[00:29:24] so we use five species of mushrooms in our products and you know just one uh one or two I'll call

[00:29:29] out reese mushroom alone they've researched there's over 800 compounds in just that mushroom

[00:29:36] so that's more than most cannabis plants so right there it's like there's an abundance of good

[00:29:43] um antioxidants molecules and it's you know vitamins minerals there's pretty much the whole

[00:29:49] gamut in these mushroom species another one that is a little bit lesser known in our mushrooms is a

[00:29:55] garacon and a garacon is really interesting specifically you know in light of all the

[00:30:01] respiratory issues that I've heard with cats and also in dogs too but um a garacon was used by

[00:30:09] the ancient Greeks as a tonic for any kind of respiratory related issues and they drank it

[00:30:16] in teas and tonics and stuff but the really cool stuff is that a garacon is being studied for

[00:30:25] its benefits or I guess treatment of herpes simplex virus which they have some pretty good papers

[00:30:32] that show that it outperforms things like L lysine and some of the traditional pharmaceuticals

[00:30:38] which is really cool evidence to kind of say hey here's a natural place to start yeah that's

[00:30:43] awesome do you guys have a that mushroom in your line of products yes absolutely a garacon is a

[00:30:50] really interesting mushroom it's one of the lesser uh I guess less popular ones because

[00:30:55] typically you know we use um a garacon cordyceps reishi turkey tail lions man so that's kind of our

[00:31:02] our go-to fibrin so the four that I mentioned outside of a garacon are pretty well known

[00:31:06] but we when we looked at pet related issues and specifically cats and we saw that research it's like

[00:31:12] okay well a lot of cat owners are experiencing this and they're looking for you know natural ways to

[00:31:18] handle it and we've had really good feedback with a lot of cat owners now granted um we understood

[00:31:25] when we first started it when we were doing in powder we're like we know this isn't easy to get

[00:31:29] in their body if you can like we said you know mix it in something yummy but then

[00:31:33] with the launch of our tincture it's really exciting because it's a much more palatable option

[00:31:39] that's sweeter and you know it's it's all human grade so it's it's really clean ingredients nothing

[00:31:45] you wouldn't recognize but also something really simple you can mix in the food daily and and

[00:31:50] you know from a dosage standpoint on mushrooms um it's very similar to cannabis in that we

[00:31:58] really want you to just start small and if you can keep it in daily it's going to be a much

[00:32:02] better experience and just overall benefit than trying to do a ton of it to try to fix a problem

[00:32:09] that day yeah definitely try to manage problems before they turn into big problems okay great

[00:32:17] so what's your number one tip that you would recommend for some cat owners to to go away

[00:32:23] with today and implement right now yeah because because we're a supplement company and and I

[00:32:28] started this company for a pet that was um very old and very picky and I've had pets since that you

[00:32:37] know I've dealt with as our pets age I think it's important to just realize like when you're going

[00:32:43] to start incorporating natural supplements make the experience enjoyable I think you don't have

[00:32:49] to fix the problem in one day and and just from an expectation standpoint when you're starting

[00:32:54] a new supplement don't throw the kitchen sink at them start with one thing see how they do for you

[00:33:00] know a couple weeks and and you know I think having a journal or at least taking note daily of how that

[00:33:07] animal is responding is so important so I think for starters with any natural supplement start

[00:33:13] low go slow and do one thing at a time as opposed to kind of throwing the kitchen sink as pet

[00:33:19] owners I am one of them we sometimes panic when our pet doesn't feel well and we want to throw

[00:33:24] every natural thing first before we go to the vet or talk to you um rather than doing that I would

[00:33:31] say start with something simple you know that you have very simple ingredients in and then

[00:33:36] go slow and you can gradually increase the dosage and working with holistic vets like yourself

[00:33:41] I think is the best kind of advice I can give as opposed to you know try everything and and you

[00:33:48] know not know what's what yeah I totally agree and yeah if you're getting confused from all the

[00:33:55] Facebook comments that you're reading just um go on to ahvma.org and find yourself a holistic

[00:34:02] vet in your area because we are out there sometimes we're harder to find but there's a

[00:34:07] lot of vets out there that are wanting to help folks who are um trying to find solutions for their

[00:34:12] pets for sure and thank you for that yeah sometimes I think that gets forgotten of like

[00:34:19] where do we find one so there is that is a good resource for people to be aware of too

[00:34:23] I would say Dr. Barrett I'm sorry to interrupt but I would just like to that point

[00:34:28] I think another good tip and I'm sorry I'm doubling up on my tips I think having a team

[00:34:34] of having someone a holistic vet like yourself maybe your local vet that is your you know primary

[00:34:40] clinician and maybe even some some um body work you know if you have acupuncture or massage

[00:34:49] and even even a vet that can help you with kind of dosing cannabis you know so I

[00:34:55] I've learned over the years with my own pets and just talking to pet parents it's okay to have

[00:34:59] a couple different resources for this stuff and and being clear and bringing them all together

[00:35:05] and kind of keeping everybody on the same page is really healthy as opposed to kind of being on

[00:35:10] islands and and just having all your information from one thing yeah definitely and if you have

[00:35:17] a good team you know everyone wants to help and support so don't be afraid like he said to

[00:35:22] reach out and find those professionals who can help you yeah so Sean where can our audience

[00:35:29] find you and get more information because this has been so helpful and valuable yeah absolutely so

[00:35:35] everything they can find us on is um earthbuddypet.com or we have really good youtube videos of

[00:35:42] how to dose cats too um at earthbuddypet on youtube and all social media and um earthbuddypet.com

[00:35:51] we're offering a special discount code pet summit cbd 2024 that we can probably share after this

[00:35:59] but that'll get anybody who is is participating in this 20 off all of our products and you know

[00:36:06] we want people to try it and we want people to give us feedback so it's always good to have

[00:36:12] cat owners you know tell us how it's going definitely thanks for that generous offer and

[00:36:17] um thank you again for your time we really do appreciate it yeah thank you for having me

[00:36:22] and and thank you for everything you do you're welcome so yeah for listeners just don't forget

[00:36:27] to follow subscribe and leave reviews if you found this episode interesting and this helps us to

[00:36:33] reach more pet owners who might also benefit from this information so until next time

[00:36:37] thanks for listening and thank you again Sean for being on the show today thank you thanks

[00:36:42] for having me take care thank you