Latest / The Natural Dog Mum / It's Not Allergies? What's Really Causing Your Dog's Symptoms with Master Herbalist Rita Hogan

Transcript

It's Not Allergies? What's Really Causing Your Dog's Symptoms with Master Herbalist Rita Hogan · The Natural Dog Mum

0:00
Welcome to season 2 of the Natural Dog Mum podcast.
0:03
I'm really excited to share the first episode with you.
0:07
We had a chat with one of my personal gurus when it comes to
0:11
natural dog care, also the author.
0:14
Of the very popular. The Herbal Dog book.
0:17
Rita Hogan. We covered a lot of.
0:19
Ground, we talked about skin sensitivities, we talked about
0:23
immune system, we talked about gut issues and the connection
0:28
between all of these things. And importantly, we talked about
0:33
a common misconception among dog owners out there.
0:37
What if it's not actually allergies?
0:40
So if you've got a dog at home that has itchy skin that can't
0:44
stop chewing its pores. Recurrent ear infections.
0:48
Gut sensitivities. You'll definitely want to tune
0:52
in for this one. Hope you enjoy it.
0:56
Hi Rita, thank you so much for taking the time.
0:59
It's such a pleasure to chat to you again.
1:01
I'm super. I'm excited to be here.
1:03
That's awesome. You probably don't remember, but
1:06
I met you very, very briefly at Canine Masters last year and you
1:11
very kindly autographed a copy of your book for me, which is,
1:16
which is pretty much my Bible. I tell everybody to to get a
1:19
hold of it. So yeah, very, very, very
1:23
excited to talk to you again. I'm totally excited.
1:26
Yeah, I do remember you at the Canine Masters in in Melbourne
1:30
and I really, I just had a great time there.
1:33
It was so great. It was just wonderful.
1:35
It was absolutely amazing. I'm really looking forward to
1:38
this year's Again, I can't. Wait, yeah, I won't be there
1:40
this year, but hopefully next year.
1:44
Yeah, absolutely. Well, you're going to be a
1:47
little bit busy. I mean, you, you've only
1:49
recently finished your tour for the herbal Dog and you've got
1:53
another book coming out later in the year.
1:55
So you're you're going to be flat out.
1:57
Yeah, I've got I've got writing in the future for sure.
2:01
So I'm excited about that too. You know, books are a really
2:04
good way to communicate different types of things so
2:06
people can take their time with it and digest it according to
2:10
their needs. And I really feel that, you
2:13
know, feel that there are books that are lacking in that
2:17
department. Think so too.
2:20
Very much so. I mean, you know, lacking,
2:22
lacking books, you know, there's some great books out there, but
2:26
giving people a little more guidance, that's the feedback
2:29
I've always gotten. You know, I know that Milk
2:31
Thistle does this, but how do you actually use it?
2:34
That kind of question. Exactly, on top of the fact that
2:37
there's been so much new research that's come out in
2:40
recent years as well about the effectiveness of plants as
2:44
medicine. So, you know, we're able to give
2:48
to give people so much more insight not only in the how to,
2:51
but for the more science you folks.
2:53
OK, this is how it works and This is why it works.
2:56
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, in herbalism there is
3:00
a, there's science, but then there's traditional herbalism.
3:05
And I kind of always try to bridge those together as much as
3:08
I can. But, you know, I always tell
3:10
people that, you know, I don't need science to tell me that
3:13
milk Thistle works. But it is nice to know like what
3:15
constituents there are and what is science is finding out about
3:19
these herbs. The problem is is that there's
3:21
not a lot of funding for herbal research because there isn't a
3:24
lot of money to be made. That's very, very true.
3:28
I would have to agree with you there, but it it certainly is
3:33
useful. I, I find for myself anyway,
3:35
when I'm speaking to newbies who haven't really had, I guess the
3:40
experience to work with plants and, and different foods is
3:44
medicine. Some who are maybe a little bit
3:47
sceptical, having, you know, a research body to refer to, it
3:54
just helps to give it a little more credibility when you're
3:58
trying to walk them through that door.
4:00
Absolutely, for sure. I have a lot of references in my
4:03
book. I noticed that.
4:05
I noticed that, which is where it's very, very handy for those
4:09
of us who are speaking to the clients.
4:11
I don't actually do consultations like you do.
4:15
I have physical products, I have the organic skin care line for
4:19
the dogs, but I do a lot of chatting behind the scenes with
4:22
customers whether they've got questions or or if they need
4:26
advice on which product. I also like to ask questions and
4:30
delve a little bit deeper because there is still this
4:33
common misconception out there that if there is a skin issue,
4:37
slapping something on it topically is going to make all
4:41
your problems go away. So many people still don't see
4:44
the connection to the gut and what's going on inside the body.
4:50
So I'm constantly talking to people about what's the
4:54
situation with your, their tummy, What are you feeding?
4:58
What are their poos looking like, all of those sorts of
5:01
things. And they sort of look at you
5:03
like you're a little nuts to begin with.
5:05
But it's it's just so important you you absolutely cannot fix
5:09
the problem without without a combined approach.
5:12
No, you definitely cannot. For sure.
5:14
You cannot fix the problem without a combined approach.
5:17
And I'm glad that you, I'm glad that you talk to people about
5:21
that. That is, you know, it's a
5:24
beautiful thing. Just, well, I mean, from, for me
5:27
personally, I just feel like there are so many people out
5:30
there who really want to do better for their dog and I want
5:34
to support them in that however I can.
5:37
I've had animals my entire life. They've always been, you know,
5:40
my favourite part of, you know, life on this planet.
5:44
Anything that I can do, you know, to help people make their
5:47
lives better, help them be comfortable, happy, you know,
5:51
live well as long as possible, I'm more than happy to do that.
5:55
I don't make any money doing that, but that's not why I do
5:58
it. Yeah, there's the puppies.
6:01
It's, you know, when people who are frustrated, you know, that's
6:05
one of the things is people get really frustrated and they just
6:08
want to suppress symptoms, you know, and I don't, I really
6:12
believe in making animals comfortable, but we don't want
6:16
to suppress the symptoms so much that it drives the disease
6:20
farther into the body. That's a big important thing.
6:23
Absolutely. You know, the skin is definitely
6:26
a representation of what's going on inside for sure.
6:29
Definitely. Now I wanted to talk to you
6:32
about some of the some of the more common issues that your
6:37
clients are presenting with at the moment.
6:39
There's always a lot of talk in social media and everywhere
6:42
about allergies. I certainly get my fair share of
6:45
customers who have issues, but a lot of people get very confused
6:50
about the difference side between a food allergy or an
6:54
environmental allergy, or even just what might not be an
6:59
allergy but might just simply be reactivity or sensitivity.
7:03
What's your experience so? Allergies in general.
7:07
You know the word allergy? Really not an allergy.
7:10
It's a sensitivity. Most allergies, usually
7:14
allergies will cause some level of anaphylaxis.
7:19
You know, I think that our words are kind of messed up.
7:21
I know that in my book, I, I do say the word allergy because
7:24
that's how people recognise. But you know, there is a
7:28
distinction and usually it's a sensitivity to something.
7:31
And I think that's a good distinction to make in general.
7:34
But when a dog has allergies, the immune system gets very
7:39
confused and it gets hyper vigilant as well as
7:42
overstimulated, you know, and when it becomes chronically
7:46
overstimulated, we get a, a catic immune system and that can
7:52
lead to definitely can leave down the road if it's not taken
7:56
care of. It can lead to things like
7:58
lymphoma or mast cell tumours or, you know, really the
8:03
intolerance to to eat so many proteins.
8:06
So we do need to look at that and kind of deconstruct it and
8:10
help our dogs bodies deal with things better.
8:14
And usually I can trace most of these things back to antibiotic
8:18
use. Yeah, it's a.
8:19
It's a huge problem. There are there are huge issues
8:22
here and I'm sure you've noticed it as well.
8:24
Just in terms of in terms of the IVA prescription of antibiotics,
8:30
coupled with the fact that your average pet owner doesn't really
8:35
understand what they could be doing or what they need to be
8:39
doing in supporting the dog's guts.
8:42
If they absolutely must be on antibiotics, what they can be
8:45
doing to make sure that they're not absolutely destroying that
8:49
poor dog's guts? Absolutely.
8:52
I think that a lot of people, I think a lot of like in my
8:56
practise, a lot of people will tell me, well, he, he did
8:59
antibiotics three years ago and then, you know, let's just say
9:04
it was 2023. He did antibiotics in January
9:11
and you know, this didn't start until June.
9:15
It's the antibiotics and if we do absolutely nothing to a dog
9:20
first there, the current microbiome before the
9:23
antibiotics will never return. And if we do nothing, it takes 2
9:27
years alone doing absolutely nothing to help.
9:31
Kind of level out and repair well in those two years, a lot
9:35
can happen to a dog being uncomfortable or developing food
9:39
sensitivities, not digesting proteins well and that's going
9:44
to make the immune system hyper, hyper reactive and also can
9:48
cause things like leaky gut or leaky gut can cause the
9:52
sensitivities. I think the overabundance of
9:54
antibiotic use is the main culprit in these types of
9:58
sensitivities. Yeah, it's huge.
10:01
Also, yeah. And also we need to look at.
10:06
So when I, when I see a dog with sensitivities and allergies, I
10:11
always explain to people that this is the gut, but it's also
10:15
the liver and lymphatic system. And we need both of those
10:19
systems online to heal. So I usually focus on that
10:23
because the liver, when the liver is when the liver isn't
10:29
working correctly and it's stagnant, it's congested.
10:32
It doesn't have the bandwidth in which to deal with the
10:36
sensitivity. So you see dogs with like grass
10:40
allergies and different sensitivities to pollen and
10:44
stuff and that is just a stagnant system.
10:47
If the liver was working correctly and it wasn't
10:51
congested, it would be able to deal with those grasses and
10:54
those trees and things like that.
10:55
But when it's so stagnant, you know, it gets the sensitivities
10:59
and allergies get more compounded.
11:02
Absolutely. And that's one, one of the first
11:04
things that I actually say to my customers when they're
11:08
describing these sorts of symptoms, these sorts of
11:11
sensitivities is while it's absolutely important to to look
11:16
at specifically what what's causing the reactivity, they
11:20
also need to go right back to basics and look at the health of
11:23
the gut. And if they're not sure what
11:24
they're looking at, if they don't know what the dog actually
11:27
needs, I'll refer them to one of a couple of different
11:31
specialists that I work with to look at doing hair mineral
11:35
testing, to look at what's actually going on inside the
11:38
body, where the livers are, where the guts are, to make sure
11:42
that any nutrients that they're patient in can be corrected.
11:46
And get them on some sort of gut reset to get the gut nice and
11:49
healthy so that you've got a good foundation before you then
11:53
move on to treating other things.
11:55
Yeah. For sure.
11:56
So what? Are the sorts of symptoms that
12:00
you're seeing in terms of the actual immune reactions, rashes,
12:05
hotspots, itching, all the common ones, itching?
12:10
Biting, licking, hotspots, rashes, hair loss, crusts,
12:15
sometimes you know, sebaceous cysts.
12:18
These are all like skin issues and the issue like whenever you
12:22
have skin issues, you can know that the elimination organs in
12:29
your dog are not working like they should.
12:32
So, and you know, a lot of people, a lot of people will
12:35
focus on the condition of dogs poo.
12:39
Well, you know, I've seen a lot of dogs get diagnosed with
12:43
cancer with excellent poo, right?
12:46
We can't, we cannot rely on poo as much as we think we can.
12:51
I mean, I get quite a few people that would describe their dog as
12:54
healthy but can't eat. They need only one protein,
12:59
right? Or have to have things like Cida
13:02
point every month. These are masking symptoms and
13:05
it's really hard to read the body when it's being suppressed
13:08
like that. Now I know sometimes people need
13:12
a bridge and a dog who's ripping their skin off.
13:16
That's a different story, right? That's that's very highly
13:20
advanced and sometimes we might need something to help that dog
13:24
not do so much self harm. But that's not normally the
13:29
case. And I think that we need to work
13:32
on getting out of the mindset that we have to do everything we
13:36
can if our dog has even a single symptom to get rid of the
13:40
symptom and we just start chasing them the symptoms.
13:44
When really it's the elimination organs in the lymphatic system
13:48
and gut that are the problem with almost every allergy I've
13:51
ever seen. So, and it requires patience.
13:55
Absolutely. That's yeah, that's the number
13:58
one thing that that people need to know.
14:00
It's, it's not a quick his appeal and and an overnight fix.
14:04
It's, it's something that you know that he's going to take
14:07
time. I mean, as as you rightly said
14:09
earlier, it takes a good two years to heal the gut.
14:12
Sometimes it can be a little faster with a little bit of
14:14
help, but you've got to go at their pace.
14:17
Unfortunately, some dogs heal faster than others do.
14:22
It's it's just the way nature works.
14:24
Absolutely, for sure. And I, it's hard sometimes to
14:28
have patients, but we have to, we need to afford our dogs the
14:31
same patients we have with ourselves.
14:34
Absolutely. So when?
14:36
When a client presents with a dog that has these sort of
14:39
symptoms, where do you normally start in terms of coming up with
14:44
a plan? When a client comes to me with
14:46
allergies and sensitivities, what I will do is create an
14:50
herbal support protocol. But another thing that I will do
14:54
is that I will look at them comprehensively as an ecosystem.
15:00
You know, what are they eating, what are their treats, what are
15:04
what is their complete medical history?
15:06
Look at their vet records and see what vaccines have they had,
15:10
when was the antibiotic usage because it's almost always
15:13
there. And what have they done that
15:16
hasn't worked? That's huge.
15:18
It speaks volumes. There's so many things that you
15:20
can tell from something that doesn't work.
15:23
And how long they gave them, you know, how long did they try?
15:28
How long did they use something for?
15:30
These are all things that can give me clues on to what will
15:34
work. And then of course, Chapter 3 in
15:36
my book Energetics, I like to figure out their energetics to
15:40
make sure that this dog is being fed energetically appropriate,
15:44
an energetically appropriate diet because they're obviously
15:47
not well and probably cannot tolerate the like the I would
15:53
say a variety like I would love to see dogs have, but a lot of
15:58
these dogs cannot tolerate it very.
16:00
True, and it also helps to determine the path forward in
16:04
terms of in terms of the plants you would be recommending as as
16:07
well. For example, one of my dogs runs
16:10
dry and hot. She always has ever since a
16:13
puppy. So if I am in a situation where
16:17
I need to be giving her something to say, reduce
16:21
inflammation, I've got to be very careful.
16:23
Things like ginger and turmeric with him.
16:25
Absolutely. And Burdock would be perfect for
16:28
her. Yeah.
16:29
No. Energetics really does dictate
16:32
the palette in which we're going to choose from.
16:35
You know, that's really important.
16:37
And a lot of people don't understand that.
16:38
So I help them understand why that's so important.
16:41
I think things really open up from there.
16:43
I work like, for instance, in my book, page 137 is a page that
16:48
works on organ health. And so the first thing I do with
16:52
any, almost any dog, unless we're dealing with like an
16:55
emergency cancer situation where they need support right away, I
16:59
will stabilise the nervous system because that's going to
17:02
make every organ system work better.
17:05
And so we're going to do that first.
17:07
And then I'm going to work with the lymphatics, then I'm going
17:09
to work with the liver, then I'm going to work with the digestive
17:12
system. And then I'm going to work with
17:14
what the complaint is. Because by the time we get to
17:17
the complaint, usually they are so much better.
17:20
Or we stabilise the nervous system at a lymphatic and then
17:25
we work on what's called an antibiotic recovery protocol so
17:30
that we can give their gut what it needs to help repair.
17:33
But it's much easier to repair the gut when the nervous system
17:37
is more stable and the lymphatic system is being stimulated.
17:40
Absolutely. So can you give us maybe an
17:44
example of a herb or two that you would use to support those
17:48
systems in recovery? Yeah, absolutely.
17:51
So, you know, if your dog is a cool dog, which means they
17:57
they're looking for heat, they're laying near heat, they
17:59
like to be covered up. If you can't figure your dog's
18:03
energetics out, then just pick cool.
18:04
That's my my theory on that one. But if your dog's a more cool
18:08
dog, I'm going to reach for an adaptogen to help the nervous
18:11
system. So I'm going to reach for like
18:13
something like Ashwagandha and it is interesting.
18:17
I like to use flower essences. You know, in Australia there you
18:21
have some Bush flower essences that are lovely.
18:23
A flower essences can really help with calming the nervous
18:27
system down. And then for the lymphatic
18:30
system, I use what's called cleavers for dogs that are warm,
18:34
calendula for dogs that are cool.
18:36
There's a lot of the lot of lymphatics that you can use.
18:39
Even turmeric is a lymphatic has a lymphatic component that's
18:43
mainly for cool dogs and I usually get those things on
18:49
board 1st and for about I would say 2 weeks to a month and make
18:55
sure our dogs are are comfortable.
18:57
So might use something topical to help make them comfortable
19:01
and or maybe a homoeopathic remedy and then like arnica for
19:05
inflammation. And then I get that, I get
19:08
things going. You know, I might use nettles as
19:11
well to help calm the itch. Our Q certin and nettles
19:15
together, or corsetin as a lot of people call it.
19:19
Corsetin and nettles together to help calm down some of the itch
19:24
and get them comfortable so that we can work within.
19:26
Absolutely. So are there any particular
19:29
patterns that you've noticed in your experience with them
19:34
certain certain breeds of dog that seem to have more problems
19:38
or is it something that's that's more across the board where it's
19:42
related to antibiotic use I. Think dogs that well, antibiotic
19:47
use is #1 for me #2 diet related.
19:50
You know, certain diets are really hard on the liver and
19:53
lymphatics, like kibble diets, especially ones that aren't,
19:57
especially ones that are really low grade and also lack that our
20:01
people aren't giving enzymes to. That's really hard on the liver
20:05
and the lymphatics. I mean, the liver is just
20:07
breaking down kibble all day long, all night long.
20:10
So that's really hard on the body.
20:12
It causes a lot of early ageing. So I think kibble diets can be
20:17
really hard for dogs with allergies and.
20:21
I would say a predisposition in breeds.
20:24
Well, Bulldogs are a definite breed that tends to have a lot
20:30
of allergies. French Bulldogs, Bulldogs, I
20:34
haven't seen it so much in pugs at all.
20:37
Boxers tend to have some problems, but Bulldogs and
20:40
Frenchies are definitely, you know, they joke here in the
20:45
States that they're a second mortgage and rightfully so.
20:49
But if you know a dog is predisposed, then you can start
20:52
out. You can start out with them and
20:55
be very careful. You know, my thing with
20:57
antibiotics is I don't give them unless I don't recommend them
21:01
unless you're a dog is their life is threatened, right.
21:06
I try to deal with things topically or internally, but if
21:09
their life is threatened, if they have a tooth Abscess or a
21:13
sinus Abscess or something in the lungs or an infection like
21:22
that might turn into sepsis, Absolutely, absolutely use the
21:25
antibiotics and absolutely use the steroids, right?
21:28
These are the antibiotics and steroids save lives, but they're
21:32
just being given out like candy now.
21:34
And, and it is the answer for everything.
21:37
And that's that's making our dog sick.
21:41
Absolutely. The other, the other problem
21:44
that that I would argue is right up there as well as I have a
21:47
vaccination. Oh yeah, absolutely.
21:49
For sure, for sure. I but you know what?
21:52
I don't even know why I forgot vaccination.
21:54
I talk about it all the time. But yeah, over vaccination hyper
21:59
stimulates the immune system, so it causes that chaoticness that
22:05
we don't want. And there's some vaccines for
22:08
dogs. I don't know about Australia, I
22:11
don't know what the vaccines are there, but there are some
22:13
vaccines for dogs here that the vaccine alone can cause damage
22:19
and some that have been taken off the human market and are
22:22
still being used on our dogs. That does not surprise me.
22:27
Unfortunately, no. The big one, it's.
22:31
Something that's very much on my mind at the moment.
22:33
As I mentioned when we started, I've got a litter of puppies
22:36
here at the moment and unfortunately from a legal
22:40
standpoint, even though I would prefer not to vaccinate them at
22:45
this point in order to sell them to their forever homes, I'm
22:49
legally required to give them at least one before they leave at 8
22:53
weeks. So what I do firstly is I leave
22:57
it until as late as possible. Many people vaccinate them from
23:02
sort of six weeks. I don't do it until 7 1/2,
23:06
literally a few days before they leave so that I've got time to
23:09
watch. At least for initial reactions.
23:12
I make sure I give their new families a really good puppy
23:17
pack so that they know what symptoms to look for if there
23:20
are any issues. I also give them herbal support
23:24
to reduce the chances that they're going to have a
23:27
reaction. Same with worming as well.
23:30
I don't use chemical wormers on my adult dogs at all.
23:34
I do everything naturally. I don't vaccinate without titer
23:37
testing, and they haven't needed vaccinations for the last five
23:41
years. But with young puppies,
23:43
unfortunately some of the natural intestinal worming
23:47
options aren't as effective as they are in adults.
23:50
So even though I haven't wanted to, I've needed to at least give
23:55
them a a couple of puppy doses while they're in my care.
23:58
But I've combined that with a couple of things to support
24:03
support their tummy ground marshmallow root sprinkled in
24:06
their meals over a few days and also a few drops of aloe Vera
24:12
juice just to try try and support their bellies.
24:15
Good I. Didn't want to do it, but
24:17
unfortunately with that small that it's a necessary evil.
24:21
Yeah, absolutely, for sure. Goodness gracious me.
24:25
Sorry. They're scrambling and trying to
24:27
get out at the moment so I'm always a teeny little bit
24:30
distracted and on guard. They cannot be trusted for two
24:33
seconds. I'm sure they can't.
24:36
Oh, they're, they're absolute shockers.
24:37
They are far too smart for their own good.
24:40
And yeah, outsmarting everybody right now.
24:43
Do you, do you have a wonder a particular case study that you
24:47
can talk to us about a a particular, a particular dog
24:52
that that really spoke to you or a case that, you know, that just
24:58
stands out? Oh.
24:59
God, there's so many of that. I've been doing this for over
25:03
2020 years. I, I did have one.
25:06
I mean, I don't know, just one dog that stood out.
25:09
There was a dog that had, you know, I would say 70% hair loss.
25:15
Hello, crusting all over the skin and itching, scratching,
25:21
just super inflamed skin. And we used a spray to help
25:27
with, I'm sure like if you went and got to the vet and got
25:30
scraped, it would have secondary infections and things like that.
25:33
But what we did is we changed the diet, we added enzymes for
25:38
about 6 months we worked on. And of course, there were lots
25:42
of rounds of antibiotics involved.
25:43
So we worked on for about 6 months.
25:47
We worked on the antibiotic damage, which, you know, the
25:51
hair grew back, the itching had scratching stopped for a while
25:55
there. We had to put socks on so that,
25:57
you know, so he could itch. I could scratch, right?
26:02
But he wouldn't, wasn't damaging himself, right?
26:04
He could get his little scratch on, but wasn't damaging himself.
26:09
And there wasn't what I could see, too much yeast involved,
26:12
but there was yellow crusting. So we dealt with the bacteria.
26:16
We worked on the inside as well, definitely used.
26:21
I used an herb called yellow duck which is very indicative
26:24
for crusting. We did some salves on the
26:27
outside just while we were working on the inside but it
26:30
took about 8 months. But that dog grew all of its
26:32
hair back, didn't itch and scratch anymore, and and was
26:35
able to eat a Berry diet. Excellent.
26:38
Excellent. They're the stories that we love
26:40
to hear, aren't they? Yeah.
26:41
Oh yeah, I love, I love it. I've had a lot of with, I've had
26:45
a lot of good luck with, with protocols in general.
26:49
But you know, sometimes it can be something super easy.
26:51
I always like to go over my super easies, which I can't
26:54
count the number of dogs that have come to me with severe,
26:57
severe skin allergies. And it's just like Tide or Gain
27:03
detergent. And it's the detergents that
27:07
people are washing their clothes in and the dogs are allergic to
27:11
them. They're sensitive to them and it
27:12
makes them itch and scratch. I can't tell you the number of
27:16
people. Then I'm like, OK, so first
27:19
thing we're going to do is before we meet, you're going to
27:23
stop using this detergent on everything yourself, everyone,
27:27
right? And we're going to do that for a
27:29
month. And it's amazing how many, like,
27:32
he's not scratching anymore. Or plug in air fresheners.
27:37
Yeah, you know, they land on your hair and your fur and they
27:42
breed them in. It taxes the liver.
27:45
It taxes everything. And those are real bad, too.
27:48
So cleaners and things like that, when we clean up our
27:50
environment, sometimes these types of things go away.
27:55
Absolutely. Especially your cleaning
27:56
products that are loaded with ammonia.
27:58
It's it's just nasty, nasty stuff.
28:00
And anything with artificial fragrances, even your scented
28:04
candles, you know, that might make the house smell pretty
28:07
hugely problematic. Yeah.
28:08
They're very problematic. So, you know, you just slowly
28:12
make little choices, you know, and changes baby steps to clean
28:17
up the environment of your home and to try to use more natural
28:20
fabrics. You know, I try to use organic
28:24
whenever I can for, with, with things my dogs are laying on and
28:27
for myself, you know, it might, I might have to wait for things
28:31
to go on sale. But you know, I I do try to pick
28:34
it when I can, because here in the States, pesticides and
28:37
herbicides are real nasty. I don't think they're any better
28:41
here. Oh, I thought that's yeah,
28:43
that's one of the reasons I'm the same.
28:46
I will buy organic everything as much as I possibly can.
28:50
That's I mean that's why I went 100% organic with my products as
28:55
well. I mean, you know, the
28:57
ingredients I was already using were were premium and human
29:00
grade. But because my line is targeted
29:04
specifically to dogs with sensitivities and reactive skin,
29:09
even the slightest chance, I just did not want to take that
29:12
chance of a dog having a reaction to something.
29:14
So even though I'm not certified majority of my ingredients,
29:19
probably 70% are certified organic.
29:21
The rest are what I call organically grown from small
29:24
producers who employ organic farming methods.
29:28
Yeah, absolutely. It's not.
29:29
Certified because most of them can't afford to be and then
29:32
you've got a few things that are wild harvested as well I mean
29:36
you clays and things can't be organic, but they're literally
29:38
coming from from nature from a natural source.
29:42
And a lot of the herbs that I use in my products as well,
29:45
again, they're not certified, but they're wild harvested, so
29:49
there's no chemicals involved. I.
29:50
Love that. I'd just rather be safe, you
29:53
know? Absolutely.
29:54
For sure, yeah. Something I'd like people to to
29:57
more people to learn about, hence the hence the reason for
30:00
this podcast and, and the blogs and and the content I put out as
30:05
you do just to try and get the word out there.
30:07
Yeah. Absolutely.
30:08
I think that absolutely is the word that we've been using non
30:10
stop tonight. I keep hearing both of us say
30:12
absolutely, absolutely. I think it's important.
30:17
I think it's important, it's important to get the word out.
30:19
It's important to let people, you know, the more people can
30:23
understand that they are are, you know, pollution is a
30:27
problem. And I think that the more people
30:30
that understand that our environment is so important and
30:33
we want to reverse a lot of this pollution.
30:36
I absolutely agree. And there I said it again.
30:39
And the, the other, the other thing I like people to be aware
30:42
of as well is what they're using in their garden or or
30:45
fertilising their lawn, where they're walking their dogs as
30:48
well because they're tracking all of that home on their paws.
30:51
And yes, and people are being exposed to it as well.
30:54
We, we don't want to use anything on our lawns that is
30:57
toxic for ourselves and our animals and for natural for wild
31:02
animals and insects. It's, it's so important.
31:06
I recently saw a commercial, I was at a bar and I saw a
31:10
commercial for this hardware store here in the United States.
31:13
And and they had a picture of before which their lawn had
31:18
dandelions and then after which it had nothing but green grass
31:22
and the before was grass and dandelions.
31:25
And I thought, what a travesty to to be promoting that ish.
31:30
Gross. Absolutely.
31:31
It's, it's, it's no different here.
31:33
It's, it's, it's all more of the same really, unfortunately.
31:37
It's just getting, it's just getting the word out there.
31:39
People have been so programmed for so many years by these huge
31:43
corporations, you know, that they think they think it's OK
31:46
and they, they really don't understand the damage that
31:49
they're doing. And especially with our pets,
31:52
because they're lower to the ground and they're smaller.
31:55
They're they're absorbing way more, way more than their little
31:58
bodies can tolerate. Yeah, way more.
32:02
Absolutely for sure. Well.
32:03
Thank you so, so much for joining me today.
32:06
It's been so lovely to talk to you.
32:08
I could do it all day long, but I'm sure you have other things
32:11
to get to. So thank you again.
32:13
And for anyone who hasn't read it, the herbal doll, that's your
32:19
that's your Bible. If you're wanting to help your
32:21
dogs, here we go. Book Twins Twinsies, that's your
32:24
go to Bible if you're wanting literally a step by step guide
32:29
to treating all manner of different things at home and
32:33
things that you can do to support your dog.
32:35
If God forbid you do need to use conventional medicine.
32:40
There's so many great ideas in there for things that you can do
32:44
during that time to support your dog system to minimise any
32:49
potential damage. And look, if you if, if you're a
32:52
plant nerd like me, it's just an all around good read.
32:56
And I'm very much looking forward to the new the new book
32:58
coming out at the end of the year.
32:59
Can can we tell them what it is? Well.
33:01
Yeah, it's it's the herbal cat and it will should be out by
33:06
Christmas. Excellent.
33:08
I'm so, so excited for that. And I know there are a lot of
33:13
cat people in Australia, probably everywhere that will be
33:16
really excited about that. The poor cat community has
33:20
really felt a little bit left to left to the side for a long time
33:24
when it comes to natural health and products and and all these
33:28
sorts of things. They're going to be thrilled
33:30
that there's something like this out there that that is just for
33:33
them. They're going to be super
33:34
excited. Thank you.
33:36
It's so it's so great. Absolutely, Absolutely.
33:41
Well, thank you so much for having me on.
33:44
Yeah, so much appreciated. Thanks to your audience and
33:47
everyone. And it's it's late here so I've
33:49
been yawning, so I apologise. But it's it's our time
33:53
difference is a lot. So yeah, I'll probably just be
33:56
head. I'll probably just be heading
33:58
off to bed. So.
33:59
Oh. Goodness me, we've still got,
34:01
we've still got a whole afternoon ahead and I'm a bit of
34:04
a night owl. I don't generally go to bed
34:05
before about 3:00 AM, so I'll be up for a while, yeah.
34:10
Oh, I guess so. Well, you'll be up with those
34:13
puppies too. Thank you so much for having me
34:16
on. I really.
34:16
Appreciate it. No problem.