Latest / The Natural Dog Mum / How Pet Owners Can Take Control of Their Dog’s Health Naturally with Fiona Pashley from Pet Deli

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How Pet Owners Can Take Control of Their Dog’s Health Naturally with Fiona Pashley from Pet Deli · The Natural Dog Mum

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Hi dog mums and dads, Welcome back to another episode of The
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Natural Dog Mum. We're here today speaking with
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Fiona from Pet Deli. If you live in the Adelaide
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area, you need to pop in if you're looking for all sorts of
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natural products, if you're looking to get into raw feeding,
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fresh feeding, if you're looking for supplements, all of the good
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stuff that you need to make sure that your pup or your pus is
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naturally healthy and this is the place to go.
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We're going to be having a chat today about holistic healthcare
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and what that means in real terms and talking about some
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really exciting things that are happening in stores.
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So I stick around. Hi, thanks for coming.
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My God. Well, that's an amazing
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introduction. Thank you very much for that,
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Sherry. You are very welcome.
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You have well and surely earned it.
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Thank you so much for coming on. I've been dying to chat to you
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for quite a while now to talk about all the exciting things
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that you've got happening in store, all the amazing products
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and services which we'll get into a little bit later.
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Just out of curiosity, how did you start what what was your
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journey to the Pet Deli and what you're doing now?
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It was one of those sliding door moments.
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I think it's one of those things that was meant to be.
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I was in the corporate world for 27 years and in about I think it
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was 2018, I was a customer of Pet Deli.
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Deb, the previous owner, has talked to me about fresh food
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feeding for my dog Indy, and she had a staff member put up a post
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on social media saying does anyone know of someone that can
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work? She was leaving and I just said
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to Deb, more than happy to help out.
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I'll learn about fresh food feeding.
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It'll help. You don't even have to pay me
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because I was getting paid from my job for my long service
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leave. And then we just came, really
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good friends, really good friends.
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We kept walking, walking and doing all sorts of things
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together, which was amazing. And the opportunity presented
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itself to buy the business, as simple as that.
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I was terrified, I was nervous. I was, Oh my God, you know, an
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amazing job that I had for 27 years, pays well, holiday pays,
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sick pay. What am I thinking?
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Anyway, so that's how I ended up in the Pet Deli and Deb had a
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great start to the business. It was just in a really small
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shop and the building then got sold.
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So we moved. I moved after six months of
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being my first time business owner, moved premises and got a
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great location where we can expand on what Deb had
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previously done, which then included the holistic health,
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which is a passion to me because of my experience with Indy, my
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dog not getting the support that I needed.
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So that's how I got into it, which is pretty awesome.
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Excellent. So what was the story with Indy?
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Did she have some some health issues early on?
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What led you down that path? So Indy started limping at an
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early age of eight months old, and I took her to the vet and
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they didn't know exactly what was wrong.
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They did scans, they still weren't 100% sure and they ended
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up diagnosing her with hip dysplasia, which I found
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fascinating because I had her desext at 20 weeks on the advice
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from the vets to so she could have a hip dysplasia operation
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so that that wouldn't become an issue.
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So it was all a bit confusing and yeah, diagnosed her that and
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all they kept telling me was what I couldn't do with my dog.
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No one could tell me what I could do with my dog.
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If you can't run a, you can't. This is an 8 month or 8 month
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old border collie. And then Oh my God, it was so
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hard. It's like it was just so
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frustrating. Walk her around the block, let
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her smell and I'm like, well, that's not going to be any kind
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of life for her. And then I met Susie from
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Therapeutics who does dog massaging, and I rang her and I
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was in tears on the phone to her going, I don't know what to do.
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Everyone keeps telling me what I can't do.
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And she was the first person to support me in trying to find a
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solution and trying to make sure she can live a really good life
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because it kind of seemed a bit Doomsdale and go forward another
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five years. I asked if I could get another
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scan because I didn't feel that it felt like hip dysplasia and
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found out it wasn't hip dysplasia and took her to a
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physio who was a good connection of Susie.
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And we discovered that she had a twisted vertebrae, which was
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from a dog bite when she was eight months old.
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So where the dog bitter twisted her vertebrae.
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So then the physio, Megan Lemming from here in Adelaide
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then fixed that issue. And so the journey began that I
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had a team of people supporting me instead of telling me what I
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couldn't do. So treating Wellness instead of
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illness. And she's now 11 and we are
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doing lots of walks and lots of things and but yeah, I just, I
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just get getting frustrated trying to get supportive advice.
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So that is where my journey of doing the holistic support in
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Pet Deli came from. Amazing.
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So for pet owners out there who aren't familiar with the term, I
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guess are used to traditional bits once a year for the annual
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check up and that's usually about it.
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Talk to us a little more about holistic health care, what that
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means. To you, so holistic health is
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treating or supporting your pet cat or dog or chicken or
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whatever it might be as a whole picture.
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So when we look at ourselves and GPS, et cetera, there's always a
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quick fix and not finding out the core root problem of what it
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actually is. So holistic health can support
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that and we work down and actually find out what the
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problem is rather than just giving drugs or medication.
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Don't get me wrong, drugs and medication can be really, really
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good, but there's also side effects to that.
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But you need to know what the problem is so you can treat it
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properly. When we get told to eat healthy,
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the first thing that we get told to do is remove processed foods
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from our diet because everything that processed foods do causes
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inflammation in the body. Inflammation in the body causes
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disease and so much other things as well.
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So it's not just looking at the diet, it's looking at the core
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problem of what is wrong and working as a collective team.
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Originally I did call it the Pet Daily Collective instead of the
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Pet Daily Wellness Studio, a group of people to support your
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pets Wellness and not illness. So not just treating the
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symptoms, but looking at the whole being.
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Absolutely. And there's a.
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There's an important component of preventative care in there as
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well. Yeah, absolutely.
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It's like diet's a foundation, but so is lifestyle, movement,
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emotional well being, the environment.
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There's so many things that you need to, again, like ourselves,
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put in place for preventative care.
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Absolutely. It.
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It's just, it's quite a significant shift in in thinking
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for a lot of people. It's if you're not someone who
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has seen a naturopath or a nutritionist or a herbalist
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yourself in the past, it's not the first thing that comes to
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mind. And I guess in Western medicine,
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we're sort of trained to just seek advice when there's
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something wrong or when symptoms appear.
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Whereas you know, it is so much more beneficial for health and
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general Wellness to be getting the information, educating
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yourself, and talking to people about keeping the body in
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balance. Generally not necessarily trying
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to fix your problem, but trying to prevent that problem from
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occurring in the first place. Absolutely.
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Prevention is absolutely key. Excuse excuse me but not went
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down the wrong way. Prevention is the key and we
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want to help your pets stay well and not do something when
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they're sick so you prevent them from getting sick.
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Less vet bills, less illness, less everything.
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So it's just looking at your dog as a whole picture because we
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also do, we do have vets that come in.
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I've got our in house vet and we look at the tyre testing, the
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pathology, the faecal testing and all that kind of thing,
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which is a preventative tool in your toolbox.
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So you can look at the bloods, the whole bloods and then do it
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again in 12 months time. And if anything shifts, you know
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that something might be going wrong.
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So that's another, another preventative that we can do.
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And also with the tyre testing, Oh my God, I don't know.
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I can talk until I'm blue in the face about tyre testing.
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Instead of giving vaccination every year like ourselves, we
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are vaccinating. They don't know, they don't at
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all. We have vaccinations as kids
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which are for viruses once in our lifetime.
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Once our pets are exactly the same.
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They don't need it every year. But it is important that those
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levels are there and you can do a titer test which then looks at
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the levels of vaccination in their blood and if they need to
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get vaccinated they do. If not, don't worry about it.
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Same with worming. We don't worm ourselves all the
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time. We will worm ourselves.
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No, we'll worm ourselves when there is an issue.
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But you have prevent preventative foods that can help
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you with that. Pets are the same and you can
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get a faecal test which will test to see if they've got any
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parasites in there. And then you can treat with
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knowledge, not just guessing. So all guesswork gone and you
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just treat what's necessary. Same with fleas when you need to
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treat fleas when they're actually there.
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So yeah, there's a lot of preventative stuff that we do.
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And I work with vets. I've got 2 vets that come in.
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So they are standard western medicine vets as well as looking
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at the holistic side of it, so the integrated vets.
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Excellent. And the thing that I really love
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to is when you're talking about holistic care, it's not just
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talking about taking care of the physical body, it's taking care
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of them, their mental and emotional states as well.
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They're not they're not just physically healthy, but they're
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happy, they're thriving, they're satisfied.
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You know, you're just enriching their lives in such an
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important. Way, Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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And we work with dog trainers as well.
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And Susie, who I mentioned earlier, does body conditioning
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classes. It's not about exercising.
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So I made the mistake with Indy when she was younger.
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Border collie need to exercise it.
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It's not the case and I wasn't aware of that.
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And mental stimulation to make them happy.
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And mental stimulation can tie them out a lot as well.
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So there's so many things that we do for both humans and our
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pets that are just taught to us, which is actually not the best
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outcome. So we're looking at educating
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people to find better ways to look after our pets.
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Absolutely. So can you give us some more
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ideas of some of the services that you're providing through
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your Wellness centre? You mentioned tighter testing
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and a couple of other things. What other sorts of sorts of
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things do you offer consults on for customers?
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So I mentioned earlier, we've got an in resident vet that
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operates out of my Wellness room.
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So we've bought built a Wellness studio in next to the shop and
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it's got a separate entrance, etcetera.
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So if there's any anxiety or anything like that, they can go
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in through that door. And it's just a small space
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which is amazing. And Doctor Carolyn Kinghorn, as
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I mentioned before, is a vet. So she does standard vet
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consults. She's also does acupuncture, she
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does nutritional medicine, she works with anxiety, she works
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with Ichi, she works with everything that we work with.
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So I've got beautiful supplements that she will
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recommend. These supplements from
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Australian Pet Nutrition and Canine Suta Calls and Augustine
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approved. So it goes beautifully.
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So we, we were recommending them, but to come then from a
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vet is a really, really strong and supportive way again, of
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looking after your pets naturally.
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And if medication is required, she can also do that, which is
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just amazing. She was treating humans with
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acupuncture. So I may have been in there with
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Indy, my dog, while she's getting acupuncture, so am I.
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So I'm on the bed getting acupuncture as well as Indy on
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the ground getting it as well so.
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Yeah, it works beautifully. I mean, I've been a huge
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advocate for that going back. I'm dating myself here.
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But going back, you know, it's been a years plus before it was
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even popular. I mean, back in the day there
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was one, maybe 2 integrated vets across all of Melbourne.
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It just wasn't a popular modality.
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And I remember taking one of my dogs back in the day, he was
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getting older and he was having problems with the hips, as you
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know, as you do when they're getting on a little bit.
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And I was trying to minimise, you know, drug drugs and, and
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traditional intervention. And the difference was amazing.
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And I know myself, I've had acupuncture for years for
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different. Things.
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Yeah, absolutely. But you know, we've got, she
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also does things like, you know, a dog's got yeast infections.
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We it's such a common issue. She makes up her own herbs to
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clean the ears instead of getting medicated stuff as well
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as a yeast plus, for example, from Australian Pet Nutrition
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and then a change in diet as well.
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So funny, she's just ringing now on the phone, but she can
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support all of that. And I think one of the most
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common things we get is yeast infections and itchy skin, all
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that kind of stuff, which we all know you can come from the gut
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or does come from the gut and the diet and everything else.
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So she can just support all of that.
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So Doctor Carolyn is just amazing with overall health,
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again, supporting Wellness, not just sickness.
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And then we've got a network of people.
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So I said I've got Doctor Gregory from Adelaide Home Vet
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who also comes in and does the pathology days.
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I have a physio, I've got one of my staff and does hydrotherapy.
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I've got Susie who does the massage.
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Yeah, I've got everything that I, you know, I want to get more,
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but I've got a nutritionist who also does massage and laser and
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all that kind of stuff. But they can all talk together
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and support that pit together. We recently had a professionals
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day where we got hallway professionals together so we can
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get people meeting and if they've got a case that they
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think someone else might be able to help with.
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So yeah, working together as a community to support your pets,
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that's a herbalist and this, that and the other.
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And it's just amazing to have this fantastic network of people
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to support us. It's absolutely the way forward.
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I think it's something that's been needed for a long, long
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time and something that has already been happening for years
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overseas, US, Canada, UK, Asia, a years ahead of us, but it'll
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be, it'll be so great once that becomes a little bit more, I
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guess commonplace, you know, and just getting the word out there,
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you know, is, is the big thing. Just trying to get the
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information out there, let people know what's available and
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how it can help them and how it can help their pet.
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And the fact that you've got all of that available and the
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products or the supplements to support their health plan all
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under one roof is just amazing. It couldn't be easier.
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I know. And that's kind of exactly what
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you've just hit the nail on the head.
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I want to make it as easy as possible for pet parents to get
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the support they need, not just from all those practitioners,
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which is just amazing, but also the food.
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So as I said, working with Caro, she does the integrative like
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food medicine, nutritional medicine.
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So she will come out to the shop with the clients and actually
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show them the foods that they can get to support good gut
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health. If there's major issues, you can
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also deal with that. But I also supply a huge range
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of fresh food as well as bath balancer for example, which is
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created by an Aetna relevant balanced bark.
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It's a completer that you just add meat to and bone content and
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that is it. You've got a complete meal.
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I've got vegetables available, I've got awful available, I've
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got organ meat, I've got pre made, I've got fresh food.
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So whatever floats your boat on how you want to do it, we've got
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a solution for you to make it as easy as possible.
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We do bulk orders, we do all sorts of things.
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So, you know, holistically, we're helping to support your
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pet with every possible way that we can do it.
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Absolutely. And I love the products like the
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meal complete is all, all balances because it it just
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takes all of the guesswork and all of the effort out of it,
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especially, you know, for people who are time poor or then use
17:07
your fresh feeding and they're not confident that they've got
17:10
the balance right. I mean, I use them all the time.
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It makes them so, so quick and so easy that there's there's
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really no reason. Not to, no.
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And as we've even got the dry stuff that you can add water to
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or add it to food to meat to make it complete if you so
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therefore if you're travelling for example, of the raw feeders
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will take these products when they're travelling.
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So it's not just the store that we've, I'm trying to offer much
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bigger than Pet Deli. It's about changing the way
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people think and it's a whole movement.
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I'm also going to try and start going in and seeing vets and
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talking to them about what we do and how we can help support
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them. Because vets are amazing,
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amazing, amazing, amazing what they do, but they're not trained
17:59
in nutrition. And I've got that support here
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with nutritionist. I've worked with two of them and
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I'm more than happy to help support that because people more
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and more people are going to ask for fresh food.
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They don't have time to worry about all that kind of stuff
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that you go to your GP, you get a referral to a nutritionist.
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So I'm also talking to them and working.
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Yeah. Working with vets, not against
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vets because I love it, they're amazing and working together we
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can achieve so much more because the amount that they have to
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know is huge. They can't have the time to talk
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about nutrition, so that's where we come in and we're more than
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happy to support them. So that's another direction that
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I'm trying to go as well. No, that sounds absolutely
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amazing. I mean, so many people don't
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realise out of all of the things that bets have to learn at
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university, I mean, what is it, 9-10 years?
18:50
Something something in that. Yeah.
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And in terms in terms of animal nutrition, it's one semester.
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It's less than six months. Yeah.
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And, you know, they've got so many other things they need to
19:04
learn. It's impossible for them without
19:08
additional training or support to really get across everything.
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And there are so many vets out there that want to do better and
19:15
want to learn more. But it's it's having having the
19:18
time and the resources to be able to ingest that extra
19:23
learning and then feel confident to be talking to their patients
19:27
about it. So, so yeah, that's that's going
19:29
to be really valuable for the industry.
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Yeah, I'm really, really excited about it, but I also want to
19:34
create less pets going to them trying try let's not have so
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much sickness in our pets and this can help.
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And with their support and working with them, I think we
19:45
can win the battle. So yeah.
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And I said I've just done my own journey on nutrition.
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So my dog was eating way better than what I was and I was eating
19:54
convenience food and and I'm menopausal, which we ladies of
19:58
our age know all about that and eating.
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A real whole food diet has made a massive difference to me as
20:05
well. So we know that eating processed
20:07
food is not good for our health whatsoever, and eating a real
20:12
whole food diet is much better. So they're no different to avoid
20:16
illnesses. Absolutely.
20:19
And the thing that that I use when I'm talking to to customers
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because I, I get questions all the time.
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I mean because I make skin care, they're coming to me generally
20:29
with skin problems. To which my first question is
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what are you feeding? Yes, and many of them don't see,
20:39
I guess the distinction between war and fresh versus, you know,
20:43
kibble or I fed it to him for such and such a number of years
20:46
and he's never had a problem. I'm like, OK, well, or do you
20:49
have children? Yes.
20:51
OK. Would you feed the McDonald's or
20:53
pizza or KFC every night of the week?
20:57
Definitely not. Well, that's kind of what you're
20:59
doing to your dog or your cat. And when you put it in those
21:03
terms, it becomes a little bit easier for them to get their
21:06
head around. Was that I compare it to humans
21:09
all day, every day. That's every conversation that I
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have. Because we get told it.
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It's our choice if we eat processed food.
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It's not our pet's choice, it's our choice for them as well.
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I don't get a choice. They get what they get, what
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they're giving. So you know, if you want them to
21:25
be around as long as possible, which we all do, and you don't
21:29
want to be spending a fortune at the vet, You don't want them to
21:31
be sad, sick and miserable. Put something better in the
21:35
bowl. Yeah, and they get so much
21:38
moisture from their food. So if you're just giving them
21:42
dry food alone, imagine eating wheat beaks without milk every
21:46
day, that that's kind of what you're feeding them.
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So even if you just start by adding some fresh fruit to the
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bowl, it makes a massive, massive difference.
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So everything that we can possibly do to support whatever
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journey they want to take, we have got at Pet Deli as well.
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So we just have to do better. Yeah, and even just baby steps.
22:06
I mean, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach.
22:10
If they are, if they are toying with the idea, but they're not
22:13
quite ready to, you know, to take that first step, get them
22:17
to add some bone growth over the kibble.
22:19
You know, they're getting it, they're getting all that extra
22:21
nutrition and they're also getting fluids.
22:24
So you're preventing dehydration.
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Little baby sticks like that, that are easy to start, get that
22:31
habit formed and then and then slowly start adding some fresh,
22:35
start adding some, some fresh meat, some bones.
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I think that's a much easier way for, you know.
22:42
And I also think people are so scared of bones, but there are
22:46
there is the wrong way to do bones and there is the right way
22:48
to do bones. And I think when people go to
22:51
the butcher and ask for dog bones, generally you'll get a
22:55
marrow bone. So I think about a marrow bone,
22:58
a leg of an animal that's 500 kilos plus.
23:02
So it's super, super, super dense.
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It's the ones that can fracture their teeth, they can splinter
23:06
and cause damage on the way down.
23:08
And all that marrow at once can cause pancreatitis.
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So if you choose bones that are non weight bearing like duck
23:17
wings, chicken wings, Turkey necks, rib bones, brisket bones,
23:21
goat necks, they're all nice and safe.
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It's nothing to be scared of. It's about educating and
23:27
realising that that releases happy hormones.
23:30
It's so amazing for their dental health.
23:33
Putting in smackos or dental chews.
23:37
It's not going to clean your dog's teeth.
23:39
Dry food is not going to clean your dog's teeth.
23:41
Again, if you had a bowl of cereal to clean your teeth, that
23:45
wouldn't work. So it's just getting the
23:47
education piece across that bones are great.
23:50
It's the choice of bone that is not.
23:53
Absolutely don't go to big bones.
23:55
Exactly. But I think the other thing that
23:57
that people need to keep in mind as well, in addition to the
24:02
types of bone, especially if you've got a puppy, a puppy
24:05
that's not used to chewing certain bones, keep an eye on
24:08
them. Don't leave the ad in the yard
24:10
unsupervised. That that's when there can be
24:13
problems. When minor chewing bones, even
24:16
though minor adults, I'm still keeping them close by so I can
24:19
keep an eye on them. If I don't like the way
24:22
something's looking or they're starting to break off smaller
24:25
pieces and I think I don't like the look of that, I take them
24:29
away. And the size of things as well.
24:31
I mean, I've got retrievers. So for example, things like
24:34
chicken necks don't work because they can swallow them whole and
24:37
they're getting no benefits from that.
24:39
Not to mention it can be a choking hazard.
24:41
So I'll go for wings, I'll go for frames, I'll go for Turkey
24:46
Nets. It's also finding something
24:49
that's the appropriate size for your dog, preferably for a
24:52
harder bone, something that's around head size.
24:54
Ish. Yeah.
24:56
Well, we always say bigger than their head.
24:58
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You don't want it to.
25:01
You don't want it too small, especially if you're not
25:03
watching them. That's when things can go very
25:06
wrong. Yeah.
25:08
And I don't know about you, but the amount of times I hear
25:10
people say, can you give me a chew that I can leave my dog
25:14
with that'll, you know, keep them occupied for two or three
25:17
hours. I went no, because you shouldn't
25:19
be feeding something like that. It could do some damage, but I
25:22
mean, people just want to leave them with a bone at home and I
25:25
don't do that either. Yeah, it's not.
25:27
It's not the best plan. I mean.
25:29
I mean, look, I'll admit I am naughty at times when I can't
25:33
get hold of the better bones and I will get the odd marrow bone
25:37
from the butcher. But I'm watching them and if I
25:42
see any signs that I'm not happy with, I will also make sure it's
25:46
not a really massive one. That's absolutely choppers with
25:50
marrow. I will let them have a chew.
25:52
I will let them chew the meat and the fat off it.
25:54
Beyond that, it goes in the bin you've just got.
25:58
You've just got to be aware of what's happening and if you want
26:00
something to keep them occupied and you can't supervise them,
26:05
get a lick mat and put something on that will, or get one.
26:08
Or get one of the little Yogi pods and fill it with yummies
26:11
and freezer. That's going to keep them off
26:13
your card but it's a lot safer. I've got all.
26:16
Of them as well. So yes I definitely agree with
26:19
you and use the marrow bones for making bone broth.
26:23
Great for making bone broth. Use them for burnt rock, it's
26:26
not something you want to leave them with.
26:28
Absolutely not. As I said, once they've chewed
26:31
all the tasty yummy things off it, I take them away.
26:34
Yeah. Because I'm in a rural area,
26:37
it's very, very difficult being a raw feeder especially.
26:40
People just don't feed raw. Where I live, they're
26:43
traditional farmers and dog owners who don't believe in that
26:47
sort of thing. So it's a case of when I can
26:50
get, when I can get somewhere so I can get a new bones, I can
26:54
get, you know, I can get rue ribs and and I can get all of
26:58
those great things where they're getting, you know, such a
27:01
fantastic range of nutrients. They're getting some fun and
27:05
interesting things in their rotation.
27:07
It's enrichment for them, you know, and I just love it.
27:11
You know they think you're the best mum ever.
27:14
Yeah, absolutely. They think that anyway, because
27:16
we're just the best pet parents are.
27:19
On an equation, my girls will say no because they're naughty,
27:23
but you know. Yeah, yeah.
27:26
But I mean, you know, there's also so many things that you can
27:28
do to tyre them out. One of my staff members has
27:31
three border collies, so that's always an interesting
27:34
combination. And she does the luring, she
27:38
does agility, she does obedience.
27:40
She does so many things with her dogs to keep their minds
27:43
stimulated, which I think a lot of people need to do, myself
27:46
included. But I take Indy on a lot of
27:49
trial walks, so not just a walk around the block.
27:51
And it's always somewhere different.
27:52
And you know, she's actually asleep on the couch behind me at
27:55
the minute, So after a big walk this morning.
27:57
And so there are different ways absolutely of tiring your pet
28:00
out for sure. Definitely.
28:02
And the mental stimulation is just as important.
28:05
I think in sometimes even more important than the physical
28:09
exercise. You don't have to run them and
28:12
wear the match where they can barely stand.
28:14
Take them to different environments.
28:15
Take take them, you know, over different services.
28:19
Let them experience different smells.
28:21
I mean, that gets them good and tired just as much as you know,
28:24
as as a run will, because you're engaging all of those senses and
28:28
it's it's just so satisfying for them.
28:32
Yeah, and we all know the tennis ball and the damage it can do on
28:35
their teeth and just, you know, and not a rubber ball.
28:39
Where's their teeth down? And I learned with Indie again,
28:42
things I'll do differently. We did that to disrupt it.
28:45
And they'll just keep going and going and going.
28:47
And they just don't need that much exercise.
28:49
So I definitely need that the hard way.
28:53
The risk of injury as well. I mean, none of us knew that 20
28:56
years ago when we were out there with our ball truckers and that
29:00
were doing aerial gymnastics to catch the ball.
29:03
I mean, thinking about it now, I'm horrified.
29:06
Fortunately, none of mine are Bulldogs.
29:08
But yeah, that's that's another big issue that a lot of pet
29:13
artists aren't aware of either. Yeah.
29:16
So yes, there is lots to learn and I said that's kind of what
29:19
we're trying to would create a movement.
29:22
I think of all of these things and I said awake, I wanted to
29:26
make a space that I would like to visit and have all those.
29:31
I would have loved to have all those opportunities.
29:33
When I was when I first got indie, I was very fortunate to
29:35
meet Deb, the previous owner and she started me on the fresh food
29:39
path and then I met other people through that.
29:41
So we, I'm trying to replicate that and get everything all in
29:45
one space. We choose our products wisely.
29:49
We don't just have every anything in store, yours being
29:51
some of them are in store and you know everything's chosen.
29:55
We would definitely have different things to your regular
29:59
pet food stores. If anyone wants anything, I'm
30:01
happy to look at it as well. And it's all about supporting
30:04
local, but getting that community feeling is everything
30:08
that I'm trying to do. Even the customers talk to each
30:10
other now. I just love it.
30:11
The customers come in the dogs or cats.
30:14
I've had cats come in as well on lead.
30:16
They just, it's a great space to just have a community of like
30:20
minded people really, which is I love it.
30:22
I just love it. Absolutely.
30:25
I'm definitely with you on that one.
30:27
One of the things that I'm toying with, possibly towards
30:31
the end of the year or early next year, is doing a virtual
30:36
version of that. Based on the podcast, I'm
30:39
looking at putting together some sort of group or membership
30:43
where we, we make extra behind the scenes footage available.
30:48
We do lives with different subject matter experts, so
30:51
people can actually get on there and ask questions and have their
30:54
questions answered and a whole mess of different resources in
30:58
different formats to help answer their questions and, and give
31:02
them some guidance. It's a big project, guys.
31:05
So it's it's it's going to be quite a few months in the making
31:09
to get that going. But yeah, having the physical
31:13
space to do that as well and giving, giving all the treats
31:18
and getting all the cuddles, yes.
31:21
That's my therapy. Absolutely.
31:24
That's the one thing I said that to someone the other day.
31:26
That's the, that's the number one thing I miss from way back
31:30
when, when I had the, the daycare centre and the salon.
31:35
I miss having the face to face chats with my customers and
31:40
being able to spend time with the dogs and, and get to know
31:43
them and look after them and all that sort of stuff.
31:46
We, we had some really great times.
31:48
And you would you would think I was very strange the, the
31:52
conversations I would have in the car with a group of dogs on
31:55
the way to and from the park. Yeah, we, we had our own little
31:59
pack and, and we'd gather everyone up in the van and we'd
32:03
be nodding away to the music or we'd be chatting and we'd go to
32:06
the park and we'd do I think, you know, they were, they were
32:09
all my. Little Buddies sounds amazing.
32:12
Yeah, it was great fun. Yeah, absolutely amazing.
32:17
Yeah, well, if you if you wanted to leave our listeners with one,
32:21
one last piece of advice or one last thought, what's the first
32:25
thing that jumps into your head? It's the age old thing.
32:28
Our pets are not just pets, they're our family members.
32:32
We make all their decisions for them, including them in
32:35
everything that you do. Give them as much enrichment and
32:38
the best possible life as possible.
32:41
Probably said possibly too many times.
32:43
Bye bye. Just yeah, they are part of the
32:46
family and they're not just sit there and lock them outside.
32:49
I mean, everyone does do that. But the best support that we can
32:52
give them is through nutrition, supporting Wellness, not
32:57
illness, and getting ahead of the curb.
32:59
If there's anything wrong, you can address it.
33:02
Getting the best support you can.
33:04
You can get surrounded by amazing people and not medicate
33:08
at the first drop of a hat. And you know, there's always a
33:11
different way of doing things naturally.
33:13
If medications needed, it is needed.
33:15
I'm not adverse to that. But you know, looking at things
33:19
naturally, feeding naturally good, real, whole food is just
33:24
the best way for our pets. And that's all pets.
33:26
Chickens, dogs, cats, ferrets, snakes, whatever it might be.
33:31
Real whole food is just the best one.
33:33
And yourself, you know, look after yourself that way as well.
33:36
Absolutely could not agree more. Thank you so much.
33:40
I could have this conversation for hours and hours on end.
33:44
So we will absolutely have to get you back when you've got
33:47
some more time. There are so many different
33:50
topics we could we could really go into depth on.
33:53
Yeah, it's been lovely. Thank you.
33:56
Thank you, Sherry. I really appreciate it.
33:57
And yeah, any questions, if you're living in Adelaide, feel
34:00
free to reach out. Now, for people who are in the
34:04
area, where do they find you? So we are at one, sorry. 1/7/88
34:11
Marion Rd, Marion in the Marion Trade Centre Pet Deli six days a
34:17
week, Monday through to Saturday.
34:20
Excellent. Fantastic, there you go.
34:22
If you're in the area, check it out.
34:24
Head down to Marion. And we'd love to see you.
34:27
And your pets are welcome. Cats, dogs, ferrets, whatever
34:30
you like, bring them in. What's this?
34:32
Or you could try. They could fit in.
34:34
I've got a big space out the back.
34:35
You never know. There you go.
34:38
That's awesome. Thank you so much again.