1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Welcome back, pet parent. I always like to anytime we can 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,320 kind of call out cats, you know, I like to do that. 3 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:10,320 And so today's guest, we are doing just that. 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:15,640 This is a food brand that I came across not too terribly long 5 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,040 ago. I was like trying to file it in 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,240 my memory because I really liked the ingredient profile. 7 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,680 And then just randomly I got an e-mail one day and I was like, 8 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,680 Oh my gosh, this is that food company that I wanted to 9 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:33,520 remember that I forgot. So I am really excited that 10 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,320 Sabrina Simmons is with us here today. 11 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,520 She is the founder of I Want You to Say It. 12 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,160 There you go. Like I don't, I don't know how 13 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:45,360 you would just casually say roar like you have to be like with 14 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:50,560 the hands and everything. So thank you so much for being 15 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,800 here and thank you for being an advocate for feeding cats 16 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,640 species appropriate food. I would love to just start out 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,640 by welcoming you and learning a little bit about you and your 18 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,760 background and starting the company. 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:06,960 Yeah, well, thank you for having me. 20 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:10,040 It's really nice to be able to chat cat, you know? 21 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:14,960 So I've been making cat food actually since 2003. 22 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:21,480 I adopted a little kitten and he was adorable and smelly and all 23 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,960 sorts of issues and I was kind of at the end of my rope with 24 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,280 what to do with him. I visited a lot of vets, I put 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,840 him on prescription diets and I've always kind of lean towards 26 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:37,960 holistic medicine. So he had acupuncture and he saw 27 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:42,160 a nutritionist and nothing really fixed what was going on. 28 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,520 And at some point, I just was on the Internet and this was 2003, 29 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:47,840 right? So I think I was in a Yahoo 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,320 group and someone was talking about raw feeding. 31 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,680 And it just made sense. Like lions don't cook their 32 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,200 food, they don't eat kibble. So I thought, well, I'm at the 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,000 end of my rope here. And so was he. 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,120 So we gave it a shot and I made him food. 35 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,560 And honestly, it was maybe somewhere between a week and 10 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,440 days. And he was like a brand new cat. 37 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,520 It was amazing. He had energy, his litter box 38 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,720 was clean. He was just a completely 39 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,000 different cat. So I thought great, and I did 40 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,240 that for years and then somehow ended up in a women's business 41 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:30,480 class and I wrote this beautiful 30 page, you know, business plan 42 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,920 that looks zero. It's not even recognizable to 43 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:35,920 what I'm doing now. It was ambitious. 44 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:40,120 It looks good, you know, and slowly from that class, I just 45 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,400 slowly started gaining, you know, other pet parents who were 46 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:45,560 interested in raw feeding for their cats. 47 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,840 So I was making it out of my home, delivering it to people's 48 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,480 doorstep. And then it just sort of grew. 49 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:56,200 I got a brick and mortar. We've had a couple processing 50 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:03,000 facilities and now, now we have a really solid cat food that's 51 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,920 available, you know, to the public. 52 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,040 I think I'm most proud that we've stuck to our integrity 53 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,880 this entire time. So we're still using the same 54 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:18,080 farms we were using in 2010 and it's just a really clean, 55 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,160 species appropriate meal for cats. 56 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,120 You know, my focus here is cats. We are not a dog food company 57 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:29,920 that figured out how to make it work for a cat's nutritional 58 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,200 profile. Yeah. 59 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,600 Well, and that is something that I think a lot of companies do. 60 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,400 They're they're they make a dog food and they're like, oh, I 61 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,280 guess we should make a cat food too, right? 62 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:46,240 Like that's what it feels like. Well, it's like capitalize on 63 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,040 the market, you know, and for me they're, they are different 64 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,320 animals for sure. And they do have different 65 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:54,560 nutritional needs. So is there a way that you can 66 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,280 kind of make it work for both? Yes. 67 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:00,840 But if you're really, you know, our customers love their cats, 68 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,080 like they're very, very engaged with their cats. 69 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,520 Most of them are really big on the environment and eating clean 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:10,800 themselves. And I think that's what draws 71 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,040 them to our products. You know, everything we're using 72 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,519 is really sustainable. It's all human grade. 73 00:04:16,519 --> 00:04:19,079 We don't put anything in there that isn't listed on the 74 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:21,000 ingredient panel. So I think keeping that 75 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,800 transparency and that honesty is, is a big thing for pet 76 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,320 parents who are really, you know, interested in giving their 77 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,520 cats the best possible diet. Yeah. 78 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,080 Well, and you know, The thing is, somebody like me, I say this 79 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,720 all the time. I started out with my dogs 80 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,720 feeding them fresh foods, and then I was like, well, I'll just 81 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,960 add in fresh foods to my cat's diet, too. 82 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:51,560 It was really my dogs that like propelled me to, you know, go 83 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,480 down the rabbit hole of getting my cats healthier too. 84 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,240 And I think that happens with a lot of people just, you know, 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,320 average pet parents. And I don't know exactly why 86 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:04,200 that is. We've, I've talked about it on 87 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:05,920 the podcast before with some other people. 88 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,600 But once I really got into this, once I really was like, this is 89 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,000 what I want to do with my life. I started the podcast. 90 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,800 I've, I've got, you know, 2 nutrition certifications, all 91 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,400 the things they absolutely, 100% want people to feed dogs a 92 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:22,360 species appropriate diet. But to me, I'm in my mind, I'm 93 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,840 like, it's even crazier that we don't feed cats, generally 94 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:28,600 speaking, a species appropriate diet. 95 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,000 Like OK, dogs are, you can ask 10 people and you're probably 96 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,240 going to get 10 different answers. 97 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,440 But the way I've learned it, facultative carnivores, cats 98 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:42,720 being obligate carnivores, like we're doing so feeding the exact 99 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,760 same thing to a dog and to a cat. 100 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,880 If, you know, feeding a kibble diet like most people in in 101 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,160 first world countries do, we are doing potentially even more 102 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,400 damage to our cats because they are obligate carnivores. 103 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,000 And so I, I like it, just, I don't know, I guess it still 104 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,360 boggles my mind that like, how do we not start with our cats? 105 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,960 It's a huge disservice to cats, you know, And you're so right. 106 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,600 People will go into specialty stores and just buy all these 107 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,880 things for their dogs, and then you'll see them in the aisle of 108 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:18,760 a grocery store throwing kibble or cans or whatever is on sale 109 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,840 into their cart, you know, And it is pretty confusing. 110 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:24,960 I think a lot of it's just a lack of education. 111 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,000 But I think a lot of it is also, you know, when you view cats, 112 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,160 you're like, oh, they're so independent, take care of 113 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,120 themselves. They don't need much. 114 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,760 Whereas dog, you know, I mean, there's my cat and then there's 115 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,160 five dogs in the household. And the cat does rule Bruce. 116 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:44,560 She's in charge, but she requires the least amount of 117 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,960 attention and engagement, you know, compared to the dogs. 118 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,480 She just, yeah, she kind of just, she's so confident and has 119 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,840 so much independence. She just does what she wants. 120 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,960 Whereas the dogs are like, now what can I, can you pat me? 121 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,600 Can I sit next to you? You know, just never ending 122 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,280 attention. And that really gets people to 123 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,400 kind of they're on your mind, you know, a lot more than your 124 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:11,760 cat who's at home and probably sneezing. 125 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,560 Yeah, that's true. I know. 126 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,120 Like when I leave the house, my dog literally cries and yells. 127 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:24,760 And like I do have one cat who actually when I'm here she 128 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:26,800 demands my attention even more than my dog. 129 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,400 But she's not like yelling and screaming when I walk out the 130 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,840 door either. It is easier to leave, I get 131 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:35,520 that far. Yeah, exactly. 132 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,040 So, OK, tell me a little bit about because you, you were 133 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,280 talking about you're using the same farms you're very much into 134 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,400 like clean eating and I we'll get there. 135 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:50,440 Tell me a little bit about like the recipes and the sourcing and 136 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,480 we'll kind of go from there because I have a lot of 137 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,320 thoughts. OK. 138 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,720 Yeah, absolutely. So our recipes, you know, I 139 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,160 formulate the recipes, we have a vet nutritionist that we work 140 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,160 with and we also send it out for lab testing. 141 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,120 So we're kind of checking all the boxes to make sure, yeah, 142 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:09,000 this is really formulated correctly. 143 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:14,520 But whenever I build a recipe, my goal is to get the majority 144 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:19,040 of the nutrients from the meat and the Oval going into that, 145 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,200 you know, protein. So we always start with the 146 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,520 whole animals. And so there's whole chickens, 147 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,040 whole rabbit, whole ducks. Our turkeys are not whole right 148 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,160 now because of the calcium phosphorus. 149 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,760 That was really not quite right with whole turkeys going in. 150 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,400 But every choice that we make is there's thought behind it, 151 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,280 right? So I, I always felt like if 152 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,039 we're going to feed chicken, I want the whole bird going in. 153 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,920 I don't want our first ingredient to be chicken frames 154 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,480 or chicken necks or. And the unfortunate piece with 155 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,800 AFCO, as you probably know, is there are many things that are 156 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,440 chicken. Yeah. 157 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:58,680 And it's hard to define like this is what's going into our 158 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:02,000 product versus another product. So you know, for chicken for 159 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,840 example, it's whole chickens. Then we do add in some necks and 160 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:08,680 then we add in organ meat. So it's hearts, livers, 161 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:12,240 gizzards, egg yolk, and then from there any oils or 162 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,480 supplementation that we need. But based just on using clean 163 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:19,800 meats, because we, you know, because of the meats we're 164 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,400 using, we have to get a nutritional analysis done on 165 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,920 those specific proteins so that we know what's actually in 166 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:27,560 there. Just from that, you know, we're 167 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:30,920 able to make a recipe that only needs a half percent of 168 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,400 supplementation. And that half a percent of 169 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,280 supplementation is really to ensure that we're meeting AFCO 170 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,400 standards because there's certain vitamins or minerals 171 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,600 that are hard to gain from certain proteins. 172 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,120 And I know there's a big push against supplements, like 173 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,840 they're, they're evil now, but they aren't, you know, if used 174 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,000 appropriately, I think they're really beneficial. 175 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,560 And my concerns always, well, some people, some people feed 176 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,200 their cat the same protein their entire lives. 177 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:05,040 And I want to know, OK, if your cat's only eating chicken, that 178 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,440 cat's going to thrive regardless. 179 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:10,440 So, you know, one of the ingredients we need to add into 180 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,880 our chicken recipe is copper. Chicken doesn't have very much 181 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:15,760 copper in it. And we tried working around 182 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,200 this, like, we'll put lamb liver in and the cats were like, what 183 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:20,680 did you do this? You know? 184 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:26,120 So we really focus on building a nice clean, you know, meal from 185 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,480 the proteins that we're getting in the things that are available 186 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,480 to us. Yeah. 187 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:37,160 Well, so the when you say clean proteins, can you elaborate a 188 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:41,000 little bit on that? I guess I'm speaking more to the 189 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:46,200 sourcing and the actual type of animal itself. 190 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,200 So we are actually the only GAP certified raw food on the 191 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,720 market. So that means the farms have a 192 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,920 certification that ensures they're using humane standards 193 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,280 from beginning to end. So that goes on with how the 194 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,960 animals are slaughtered, how they're handled, their access to 195 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,520 the sun and the outdoor, how they're fed, how clean their 196 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,880 water is. So they have someone coming in 197 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,240 and auditing this, you know, to ensure that hey, you're holding 198 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,600 up to these specifications you claim to have. 199 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:19,840 And then we are also audited to make sure that what we're saying 200 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,920 is going into our products is what's going into our products. 201 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,960 But it's really great because you can see the difference 202 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:30,600 between using a whole bird that's grown up on a sustainable 203 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,920 farm versus something coming from a factory farm. 204 00:11:34,480 --> 00:11:38,400 I mean, you know, I and we never sway on this. 205 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:43,840 So the ingredients going in are really, you know, they're prime. 206 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,960 I mean I've eaten them, you know, pre cat food making. 207 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,360 I'll be like. Of course, I don't know if 208 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:56,160 there's people that have eaten our food for sure, but yeah, 209 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,320 when I say clean, I think I'm, I'm speaking to the sourcing. 210 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,200 You know, everything's, we're trying to make sure that what 211 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,800 we're doing is good for the cats, but it's also good for the 212 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,120 environment and honors the animals going into our food. 213 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,920 All of that, it's, well, it's all integrated really. 214 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,160 If an animal is under a lot of stresses, they're growing, 215 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:22,600 they're not going to nutritionally be as viable as 216 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,520 something that's had a happy, healthy life and been outdoors 217 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,560 and been treated with kindness and care. 218 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:32,560 Yeah, well, and what they eat, but I think that's probably 219 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,440 also, you know, when you are raising them more humanely, 220 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:39,680 you're you are more considerate about feeding that animal what 221 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:43,960 is species appropriate for them, which again, in turn is going to 222 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,000 provide a very different nutritional profile. 223 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:51,160 And that's one of the things that I probably don't highlight 224 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:57,000 enough on this podcast because so many people when they join, 225 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,680 when they first join the world of raw feeding, especially with 226 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:03,920 dogs, they're like, I can just make this myself and you can. 227 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:09,160 And you can with your cats too. But it is not super easy if you 228 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,240 are trying to feed off of a spreadsheet, which is what 229 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:16,680 Africa wants you to do, right? And the quality as you said of 230 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,280 each ingredient matters when like if you're just using 231 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:26,560 formulation software, which is something that I do, you are 232 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:31,320 just getting the averages from, you know, the USDA database, 233 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,680 right? So what you just said about you 234 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:40,160 are you're testing these ingredients because you know 235 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,200 their nutritional profiles are going to be vastly different 236 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,560 from whatever that USDA database is. 237 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:50,560 And you want to work off of that food versus an average of that 238 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:53,920 type of food. And that again, is something I 239 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,160 don't think I talk enough about here on this podcast. 240 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,960 And it's something that is so incredibly important and which 241 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:07,240 what makes foods like yours and a handful of others very, very 242 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,800 different from the rest of the foods out there, I think. 243 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,080 Yeah, absolutely. And I love that when people want 244 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,400 to make their own food, but I do, I always, I do caution them 245 00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:21,800 because after years of doing this, it's it's not that simple. 246 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,440 And there's the piece that I think is hard to understand 247 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,120 until you're actually deep into formulating is, well, this is 248 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:29,960 off a little bit, so I'll adjust this. 249 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:31,960 And how does that affect everything else? 250 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:37,520 So I, you know, personally, I always encourage people to, 251 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,280 yeah, pick, pick a nice commercial raw food, one that 252 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,720 you feel really strongly about and, and keep that in the 253 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,640 rotation as well, right? So that if there's any LAX in 254 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:52,520 what is happening on your end and keep it varied. 255 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,600 That's the hardest part with cats especially, is I want 256 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,640 people to introduce as many items as possible. 257 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,160 I mean, my cat will eat anything. 258 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:07,240 She's crazy and it's good mostly until she's on the counter 259 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,520 eating. I don't know what, but it's, 260 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,440 it's nice to be able to have that variety and offer them a 261 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,120 lot of textures, a lot of tastes, you know, a lot of 262 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:16,840 different smells. I want to hear a little bit more 263 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,880 about this cat because as we were like chatting before I hit 264 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,920 record, you were like, all of my cats have always just eaten 265 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,360 whatever. And I'm like, how has the 266 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:28,240 universe blessed you with the handful of cats in this world? 267 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,240 We'll just eat whatever. You know, I don't, I don't know. 268 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,120 I mean, I do have to say a, a little piece of it, at least 269 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:41,840 from what I've experienced with some of my family, mom is like 270 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,520 the more stress that you have regarding what your cat's 271 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,560 eating, the more you're worried and the more pressure you put on 272 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:49,880 them and why aren't you eating and you need to eat and let's 273 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:53,960 try this and let's try that. I feel like it just complicates 274 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,640 it even more, you know, whereas I've sort of just had a little 275 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,800 bit of a hands off approach to it. 276 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,560 Try this, try that. And with my cat, because she 277 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,080 grew up with dogs, my cat, I used to have a coffee shop that 278 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,880 was attached to a nonprofit cat rescue. 279 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:15,280 We were the first cat Cafe in the US cat town. 280 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:18,880 And my coffee shop And someone, these people brought in this 281 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,680 tiny kitten one day. I think she must have been maybe 282 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,840 two days old and she still had her umbilical cord. 283 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:29,200 And I was like, OK, because I have this kitten now. 284 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,720 So, you know, I raised this tiny little kitten, got up with her 285 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,200 every two hours to feed her. It was the crankiest, probably 286 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,840 four to six weeks of my life, Just I was, you know, so 287 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,160 exhausted. But because of that, I think, 288 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,040 you know, she was so adaptable. She's always been on raw food 289 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,360 since she could eat. So she went straight from 290 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,320 formula to raw food and was with the dogs the whole time. 291 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,680 And so she's really been very open to what what foods she 292 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:00,120 eats, whereas other cats, you know, cat transitioning from a 293 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,960 dry food, especially to a raw food, it's cumbersome and it 294 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:09,520 takes a lot of time and a lot of determination as the parent. 295 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,160 Yes, for sure I, I and I have heard this too. 296 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,760 I have not yet experienced it myself. 297 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:23,400 All of my cats are quite old at this point, so they all were fed 298 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,560 kibble for many years at the beginning of their lives. 299 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,160 But I have heard that if you start right away, like as 300 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,360 they're waning from the mother or if you're having to bottle 301 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:37,640 feed them as you did, then it's almost like, you know, as long 302 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,960 as you're giving them lots of different variety, we understand 303 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,920 that all of these different things are food. 304 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,880 So that later on in life, it's not like the only thing I knew 305 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,040 to be food was this crunchy stuff with palatants on top of 306 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,000 it. Like that's how so many animal, 307 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:57,600 so many cats are like that. That's the only thing they 308 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,000 understand to be food. So I would love if you would 309 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:07,800 maybe give our listeners some tips and some advice on, because 310 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,320 I'm sure you have worked with people over the years who have 311 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:16,360 had cats that were at one point on kibble, how you advise them 312 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,960 to transition to a fresher food diet, ideally a raw food diet. 313 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,320 Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a couple pieces 314 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:27,560 that are really important. And the first piece is, you 315 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,400 know, I run across a lot of people who just beat themselves 316 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,440 up over the fact that they've been feeding kibble. 317 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,360 OK? It's that's it's not helpful to 318 00:18:36,360 --> 00:18:38,160 you or to the cat. It's not not good. 319 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,360 It's what a lot of us have learned. 320 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:42,680 And at least that's what I grew up with. 321 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,600 You know, my dogs lived outside. They ate kibble. 322 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,840 They were the dogs, right? They weren't part of the family. 323 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,240 And there was just a different mindset with that. 324 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:57,720 And so if your cat's on kibble, it's OK if we can, we can get 325 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,720 get to another place. But, you know, it's, it's not 326 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,160 really something that I think people need to take to heart so, 327 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,600 so much or to feel judged. I don't want anyone to feel 328 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:12,120 judged about this. So that's step one, and Step 2 329 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:15,000 is remembering who a cat is and where they came from, right? 330 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:19,400 I mean, when you mentioned that starting a cat earlier on a very 331 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,320 diet is important, that's absolutely true. 332 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,160 Cats are imprint eaters and I don't know if a lot of people 333 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,880 realize that. So imprint eating, for anyone 334 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,040 who doesn't know, is essentially cats from generally the ages of 335 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,640 three weeks to 8 weeks. Really pay attention to what 336 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,720 their mothers are teaching them is food. 337 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:43,680 And that is what imprints on them as this is food, everything 338 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,040 else is not food. And the reason for this, it's 339 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,400 really a safety measure for the cat. 340 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,840 You know, as a parent, as a cat parent, you don't want your cat 341 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,040 going off and eating something that's going to hurt them. 342 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:58,520 So they take to heart what food is and what isn't. 343 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,520 And that's the first thing that we need to remember is that when 344 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,280 your cat looks at something you give them and is like, no, thank 345 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:06,840 you. It's not because they're just 346 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:10,200 being jerks. They're, you know, they really 347 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,800 are trying to protect themselves and are following their their 348 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,480 instinct. So those two pieces, I think if 349 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:18,880 we keep those in mind, like you're not in a rush. 350 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,120 We'll go at the cat's pace and we can get there. 351 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,280 It can happen. So for kibble fed cats, there's 352 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,720 some tricks. They don't all work on every 353 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:30,680 cat. The first thing though would be 354 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,720 to take that kibble away during the day and implement feeding 355 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,560 times. If you have feeding times, it 356 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,280 gets the cat a hungry and be more excited to eat. 357 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:46,360 So this is a it can be tricky because you have cats that cry, 358 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,080 where's my food? Where's my food? 359 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,480 So eventually you want to get them down to maybe 20 minutes in 360 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,080 the morning, 20 minutes in the evening with their kibble before 361 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,600 you change anything. Just, you know, take it in 362 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,000 stages so you're not scaring the cat away. 363 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,440 So once you have them on a feeding schedule, that's when I 364 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,280 suggest adding in things that have either a similar texture or 365 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:16,720 a similar smell so that they can start to slowly add new flavors 366 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,600 to their palate. So this is where freeze dried 367 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,480 food I think is great. Freeze dried food has a texture, 368 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:26,600 you know, if you don't moisten it, it has a texture more 369 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:29,000 similar to kibble. It also does tend to have a 370 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,320 little bit more of a smell to it because texture, smell, taste, 371 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,640 all of those factor and even temperature factor into what a 372 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,480 cat thinks is food. And so any of those being 373 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,120 different is is hard for them to get their head around. 374 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,200 So I think freeze dried is great. 375 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,320 Any sort of toppers that your cat likes is great. 376 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,600 I think I was telling you a few weeks ago about my 1 customer 377 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:57,200 who really wanted her cat on raw food, but it would only take the 378 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,160 raw food if she put it on a corn chip. 379 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:03,440 And I said, if that's what it's going to take and she didn't, it 380 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,160 wasn't, it's not like she fed her cat a whole bag of corn 381 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,360 chips, but she would just sprinkle a little bit on there 382 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,800 and, you know, slowly take the corn chips away and keep the raw 383 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,560 food going. And it was a pretty smooth 384 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,800 transition actually. So the freeze dried, the toppers 385 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,480 are great. And then just taking it very, 386 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:23,280 very slowly. So you're going to want to go 387 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:27,280 kibble, probably freeze dried and then you can start 388 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,880 moistening that freeze dried and then adding in some wet food all 389 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,640 the way to raw food. And this, this could take 390 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,480 months, honestly, because it is it takes dedication on your part 391 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:43,640 if you want this to happen. And some cats are very quick to 392 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,880 transition. The only thing I caution with 393 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:49,440 that though, is going from a dry kibble to a raw food. 394 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:55,760 You know it can upset stomachs. So doing a transition is always 395 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,120 important and you don't need to take it quite as slow if your 396 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,760 cat's on board. But I used to tell people put 397 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,560 1/4 of raw food and 3/4 of wet food. 398 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,360 But I think at this point for a lot of cats, even that's too 399 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:10,880 much. And sometimes to just be, you 400 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:15,920 know, a little tiny dollop of raw food really mixed in with 401 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,680 that wet food and and then that slow transition over over a few 402 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,040 weeks to get them completely on board. 403 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,840 The other thing I caution against is don't starve your 404 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,320 cat. They're not, they're not the 405 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,440 type of animal that I'm going to get hungry enough, so I'll eat. 406 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,960 They're the type of animal that will get hungry enough that they 407 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,520 end up with the fatty liver and in the vet emergency room. 408 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,520 And that's just, you know, it's not a it's not a battle. 409 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,040 Again, in their minds, they're like, you were trying to poison 410 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:46,520 me. Why would you do this? 411 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,680 So let's, let's carefully take you from here to here at your 412 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:52,560 pace. Really. 413 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:58,120 Yes, absolutely. And I don't know if you've dealt 414 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:02,680 with this before or if this is at all in the realm of what you 415 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:07,960 do, but I also know some people who do energy work and that kind 416 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,920 of thing can sometimes be beneficial to help cats kind of 417 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,680 get over certain. Whether it's like a disgust for 418 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,160 the new food or whatever aversions they may have. 419 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,320 If that's something you believe in or you don't, but you just 420 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,000 want to try. Personally, I believe in it. 421 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,280 I've never used energy work for that specific. 422 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,520 I also, you know, with the transitions I've done with my 423 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,800 previous cats, it didn't take a terribly long time. 424 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:38,720 And I think that was also because there were multiple 425 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,880 cats. That's also helpful if you can 426 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,480 get one cat on board. The other cats tend to be like, 427 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,920 OK, and there's other little strategies that seem to help to 428 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,960 like changing where you're feeding them, changing their 429 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,640 feeding, right? This is a different a different 430 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,160 thing. And also, you know, I always 431 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,480 like, I always encourage people to exercise their cats, you 432 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,880 know, get them energized, get them running around, do it 433 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:08,080 before meal time and and see where that lands. 434 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,320 But I think energy work, yeah, would be great because cats do 435 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,640 have aversions, especially if they get sick on something. 436 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,760 If they scarf down a new food and throw it up, it's like, 437 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,120 whoa, I don't ever want it again. 438 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:25,440 So it's really, there's a lot of psychology behind cats. 439 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:28,640 You know, there's a lot of things that are going on inside 440 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,320 their little bodies that they're not always easy to read. 441 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:35,120 There is a lot going on, which is why I always, I have always 442 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,560 said I feel like cats are harder than dogs. 443 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,760 And I know I get a lot of pushback on that. 444 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,120 Not that I think like I still have them. 445 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,760 I'm not like telling people not to have cats. 446 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,760 I'm just saying like they are people. 447 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,560 I think people like go out and they're like, oh, you want to 448 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:53,240 get a first pet, get a cat. Like no, that is like probably 449 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,880 the most difficult pet to get. Not that I'm saying to get a dog 450 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,320 first. They're also probably not a good 451 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,040 first pet. Like, I don't know, get a 452 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,840 goldfish or a gerbil or something that I don't I I still 453 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,760 maybe a goldfish. I don't know about gerbils, but 454 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:12,240 like there's, there's so many intricacies that you are going 455 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,040 to be forced to learn over time one way or the other, whether 456 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:21,560 that is by learning and growing and improving their quality of 457 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,840 life through, you know, lifestyle choices and nutrition 458 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,080 and things like that, or insane vet bills. 459 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,080 And I have been down both roads. So I can attest to the insane 460 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:38,520 vet bills that come along with raising a cat on a standard 461 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,840 American diet and healthcare system like that. 462 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,760 Just that's what it is. But dogs too. 463 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,520 This one just wants to get on camera. 464 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,160 That's great. I think, you know, with cats, 465 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:53,840 especially when you were speaking to them being obligate 466 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,080 carnivores and how important it is for them to have a meat based 467 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:03,280 diet, I think the biggest issue with the dry food is that 468 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,200 moisture content. You know, people think, well my 469 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,960 cat will just drink more water. No, they don't because they're 470 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,160 not really equipped to drink water like drinking water is 471 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:16,880 almost for fun for them. I, I don't know, but it's a, 472 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,760 it's kind of a rarity. You know, I shared recently on 473 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,280 our Instagram just they have done studies with cats and 474 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:28,520 essentially one full minute of drinking water will hydrate 1 LB 475 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,160 of the cat's body weight. So if you have an 8 LB cat, 476 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,840 you're looking for that cat to drink for 8 minutes a day and 477 00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,160 that's just not going to happen. So when you have your dry food 478 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,960 that's probably 10 to 12% moisture and then a raw food 479 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:49,000 diet that's 78% moisture, it makes a huge difference. 480 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,320 And they're really relying on their food for that moisture 481 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,840 when they don't get it. You know, that's also where cats 482 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,960 get this, like, oh, my cats got an attitude problem or it's 483 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:02,640 cranky. Well, I'd be cranky too if I was 484 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,680 dehydrated every day of my life, right. 485 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,880 And then that's I think where a lot of those vet bills end up. 486 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,600 You end up with kidney issues. You end up with UT is and these 487 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,720 aren't things that cats normally would would, you know, end up 488 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,200 with if they were said an an appropriate diet. 489 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,680 Yes, absolutely. And I, I, I will say I have 490 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,920 noticed. So the one cat that keeps 491 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,400 jumping in front of the camera, she's 17 this year. 492 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,840 My two boys are 16. And just within this past like a 493 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,760 year, there is no dry food at all in my house other than 494 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,440 freeze dried, which I mostly rehydrate. 495 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:45,280 They only get freeze dried, not rehydrated as a treat, but they 496 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,000 have definitely been drinking more water like over this past 497 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,200 year. And I have not noticed that with 498 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,160 any of my other cats as they have gotten older. 499 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,800 Of course, I have a number of cats that didn't get to this age 500 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,680 either because I did. I did all the things and I know 501 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,400 I've said this so many times for everybody listening, but I the 502 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:10,280 first close to seven years of these cats lives, I was like 503 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,800 that person that did everything my vet said to do, got all of 504 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:19,360 the vaccines on time every year. All of my cats were on different 505 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,920 kibbles that the vet wanted them to have that I bought at the 506 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,240 veterinarians. Like I did all the things that I 507 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,840 thought I was supposed to be doing as a good pet parent and 508 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,160 before learning that that was all the wrong things to do. 509 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:32,920 But. And so I do have a number of 510 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,160 cats that didn't make it this long. 511 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,800 But yeah, it has been very interesting to me to, like, just 512 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,240 notice how much more water they are drinking now than they used 513 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:45,280 to. And I'm like, I don't know what 514 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,080 this is, but OK, if you want to drink it, drink it. 515 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,720 It's there for you. Right. 516 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,600 Well, I, I wonder about that as well, just with cats in that age 517 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,400 range, because I don't think it's unusual to see an increase 518 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,440 in, in water intake. And I think part of it may be, 519 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,800 you know, they are older and their kidneys have been working 520 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:09,240 16 years, right? You think about Wildcats, they 521 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,360 generally don't live to be 16. And I'm not sure farm cats years 522 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:19,400 past would live to be 16, right? We're kind of in a new era of 523 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,600 cat longevity. And it's interesting to see how 524 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,040 that kind of moves. And with that being said, you 525 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,680 know, we do. So we have our bone in line of 526 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,000 cat food, but then we also have our boneless line of cat food. 527 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,280 And so our boneless line of cat food is made with eggshell 528 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:39,320 powder instead of bone. And the reason for that is we 529 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:43,440 can decrease that phosphorus level because phosphorus is, you 530 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,040 know, it's hard on the kidneys, especially over time. 531 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,480 The other thing is, you know, our bone in formulas are for all 532 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:53,960 life stages, so kitten through adult, but then our boneless 533 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,320 line is for adult maintenance because when you formulate for 534 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,480 an all life stages, you're formulating for the most needy 535 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,240 of that age range, which is a kitten, right? 536 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:08,800 A kitten's growing, it needs more protein, it needs more 537 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,640 phosphorus, it needs more calcium, it needs more fat for 538 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,040 an older cat, it doesn't need all of that. 539 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,160 So those levels are, you know, if you look at, I don't want to 540 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,200 say Afco's right or wrong, but if you look at Afco's numbers 541 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,440 and you have kitten and then you have adult maintenance, they are 542 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,760 different. And so with our boneless line, 543 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:31,880 we were able to make one that is just for adult cats and that 544 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:35,240 means they're not processing all this excess that they don't 545 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,800 need. So my hope is that for their 546 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:42,200 organs, you know, it really alleviates some of that pressure 547 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,560 because, you know, older cats, cats in general, get overlooked. 548 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:50,640 But geriatric cats are, like, even worse though, you know? 549 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,040 Yeah. Because I mean, like you said, 550 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:59,400 we're kind of in a newer era where there are now like, yes, I 551 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,120 think we've always had cats that lived, you know, 2021 years, but 552 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,480 like they seemed pretty darn rare. 553 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,600 And as we get more and more pet parents more and more aware and 554 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,840 educated, we are seeing more cats living longer. 555 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:18,000 And it's, I mean, I know my first cat that I ever had died 556 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,280 when he was 6. Like I, my idea just came home 557 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:25,000 and he was, he was perfectly healthy. 558 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,280 I think he, I don't know if it's a blood clot or a stroke or I 559 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,200 have no idea. And he was probably one of the 560 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,840 healthier cats I ever had because he actually went outside 561 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,920 a lot, which was not my choice at the time. 562 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,720 I thought that was horrible. But like actually giving cats 563 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:42,840 that exercise grounding, like there's a lot to be said about 564 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:44,480 that. Granted, when we have put them 565 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,880 in a world that is very dangerous for them to be outside 566 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:48,800 too. So there's that's a whole other 567 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,600 conversation. But he was pretty darn healthy 568 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,280 because of that, I think. And so it was really sucked. 569 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,960 He was my very first cat on my own as an adult. 570 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:02,920 He was my very first cat. So that was terrible. 571 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,280 So to get my, my oldest so far has only lived to 19. 572 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,600 She passed away a few years ago. But I'm like, I'm looking at 573 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:14,240 these 3 going all right, we've got 19. 574 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,440 What are we going to get to next? 575 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,760 Right. So we're talking about like some 576 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,200 of these things that can go wrong in a cat's life. 577 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:25,800 We've we've talked a little bit about kid. 578 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:30,680 I think kidney, anything urinary is very typical because of the, 579 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:32,880 the moisture that that you talked about. 580 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,400 I actually just posted like I reposted from one of my favorite 581 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,520 bone broth brands on Instagram Reel that she did. 582 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,720 And I'm like I always say any time anybody asks me if I can 583 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,480 only say one thing to somebody, it's all I don't care if it's 584 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:47,400 dog or cat. Like moisture is the hill I'm 585 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,320 going to die on. And there are a lot of things I 586 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,440 would like to say to people, but that is the one now if I can 587 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,800 only tell you one thing at all, it's always going to be 588 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,320 moisture. So there are a lot of things 589 00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,400 that could be going on. It could be going wrong in our 590 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,760 cats lives. And one of those things that has 591 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:09,040 recently come about and I, I will say I was telling you 592 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,480 before we jumped on, I opened up the bag of chicken, the chicken 593 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:18,440 recipe for my cats yesterday. Well, I opened it the day before 594 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,520 and thought it and they, they ate it yesterday was the the 595 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,920 chicken recipe. And I don't normally feed my 596 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:28,480 cats chicken, not for any reason other than like there's so many 597 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:30,480 options out there and what I usually feed them. 598 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,960 They don't even have a chicken recipe And I did, even though I 599 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:37,639 have completely educated myself on this topic and I have done 600 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:42,040 lives and I have talked to veterinarians and I understand, 601 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,360 I think to the best of the ability that we have at this 602 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:50,600 point, which isn't great. On HPAIII did like have a moment 603 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:55,719 of pause when I opened this bag. So I would just like to give you 604 00:34:55,719 --> 00:35:00,360 the opportunity to talk about feeding raw poultry right now is 605 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:04,120 a concern for cat parents. And I know you and other 606 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:08,680 companies like you are doing a lot to try to educate the public 607 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,360 and make sure that you're not putting food out there that like 608 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,360 I want to say is infected with HPAI. 609 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:20,360 But I also know there is a huge difference in a dead virus and a 610 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,000 living virus. And that is something that isn't 611 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,320 being talked about enough. I think we, I don't know. 612 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,160 I'll let you, I'll, I'll let you take over. 613 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,560 Thanks. The bird flu, the current bird 614 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,280 flu virus that's out it it, it is really concerning. 615 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,040 Also moved in a very strange way that feels like it is definitely 616 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,000 targeting raw foods. I agree. 617 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:55,600 So for us as a raw food company, we put a lot of time and energy 618 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,840 into getting to know the farms and having a good relationship 619 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,120 with them. So, you know, I hop on calls 620 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,960 with them weekly almost just to check in, see how things are 621 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,840 doing, understand their testing policies and what they have 622 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,800 going on. I spoke to one of the QCs last 623 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,120 week, you know, and they are still testing daily for, for the 624 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:21,480 HPAI virus in live birds. And you know, they have, they 625 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,920 have a pretty strict lockdown going on over there with 626 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,400 anything entering or leaving the facility, the testing they're 627 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,000 doing and then the protocols they follow if they were to get 628 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,680 a positive. And a lot of farms have, you 629 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,680 know, had a positive. And the result is that they have 630 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:44,040 to call the entire flock, which is, you know, the last one I 631 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,200 heard about was 3,000,000 birds. So you can imagine getting 1 632 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,760 positive and then having three million birds called. 633 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,480 It's, it's really upsetting. You know, I've tried to talk to 634 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:56,440 so many people and so many experts. 635 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,920 And the thing that's so interesting is the more involved 636 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:04,240 someone is in viruses or virology, the less shocked they 637 00:37:04,240 --> 00:37:06,560 are about what's they're just like, it'll pass. 638 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,040 Yeah, it's been around for 20 years. 639 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:14,560 And the the piece that I believe or my understanding is where 640 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,720 things went kind of awry was that it hopped from poultry to 641 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:24,040 to dairy cows. And that leap is kind of what, 642 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,560 you know, made this huge change in the way the virus was 643 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:30,880 previously. I'm not making a lot of sense 644 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,280 here. The nice thing is I was told 645 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:39,800 that the state veterinarian has seen a major decline in positive 646 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:45,840 virus in dairy cow milk, which is an indication that the virus 647 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,640 is actually starting to subside, which makes a lot of sense. 648 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,200 It's March, right? And and flu viruses in general, 649 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,240 just they love the winter. The cold is, you know, ideal for 650 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:59,040 them. So with our farm, you know, 651 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,120 they're testing daily. They're not letting anything out 652 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,480 that's positive. They're actually doing a full 653 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,880 clean of the entire facility and the products that are coming to 654 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,640 us. We also are PCR testing our 655 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,320 finished product. Now, none of this is obviously a 656 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,480 guarantee, but there's a lot of pieces that I still don't 657 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:18,880 understand. And I think a lot of people 658 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,520 don't understand. Like you said, there's the live 659 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:24,480 virus, there's a dead virus. There's also how much of this 660 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:27,440 virus is in the muscle meat that a cat would be eating. 661 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:32,360 And cats are equipped to ingest things and dogs that you and I 662 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,000 never could, and we never want to. 663 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:39,040 So the question is, with these viruses, it's very different if 664 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:43,320 there is a live bird with the illness getting near a cat, 665 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:48,600 right, versus a cat eating a piece of muscle meat that has 666 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:53,280 already been processed. And I don't have a clear answer 667 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:59,280 here, but I find it concerning the way that this entire has 668 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,800 been handled when it comes to raw food because it's the second 669 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:06,120 a cat gets sick and there's any link to them eating raw food. 670 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:07,400 Well, it's got to be the raw food. 671 00:39:08,720 --> 00:39:11,520 Whereas, you know, we've seen kind of an uptick in a few other 672 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:15,200 cat deaths or illnesses on the East Coast from cats eating 673 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,040 commercial food, which you and I know what's going in there. 674 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,440 And that is not safe in any way. Yeah, yeah. 675 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,680 Because it's not raw food. It's like, I guess these cats 676 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:28,000 got sick and, and it's like, wait a second. 677 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,400 So the bag that you got was tested by the way and it tested 678 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,560 negative. So we are making sure that we're 679 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,880 doing the best that we can on our end to kind of watch it have 680 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:39,760 traceability. We even have those those results 681 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,200 posted on our website. So there's a copy of the actual 682 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:46,800 lab results up there for people because I do want people to feel 683 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,040 a little bit more comfortable and safe. 684 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:55,640 And is there 100% guarantee that there's no flu virus in any meat 685 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,600 available? No, there's no way we can do 686 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:00,920 that. But the key for me as well is 687 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,960 that the companies I'm working with, the farms I work with are 688 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,680 the ones providing grocery stores with food and the pieces 689 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,720 of the meat that I'm buying, those whole birds, the necks, 690 00:40:10,720 --> 00:40:13,640 the liver, the hearts, they're also getting sent to grocery 691 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:17,480 stores. So for them to risk everyone 692 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,080 getting into the the human, you know. 693 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:25,400 Food supply, I think they're really, you know, active and 694 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,400 trying to prevent that from happening because if, if you're 695 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,480 using 4D meat, sure, no one cares. 696 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,200 But if you're using something that's going to be in Whole 697 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,560 Foods, that case could have gone to me or the Whole Foods. 698 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,160 Well, you know, we're going to be really careful. 699 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,400 Despite the fact that it's going to get cooked, probably by a 700 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,760 human, it's still, you know, there's that precautionary 701 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,320 measure that they're taking. I don't know if I answered your 702 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,160 question. It's just such a complex thing 703 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,680 right now. But I think, you know, 704 00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:01,480 personally, knowing how cats can process bacteria and other 705 00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:06,520 viruses, I do wonder, you know, and that would require someone 706 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:10,440 doing a study and really seeing like once it hits that acidic 707 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:15,960 stomach, what happens? And does that piece of meat 708 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:16,960 have? I'm not. 709 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,880 This is the other piece with dairy cows, for example, the 710 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,640 only place that they have found that virus is in the milk. 711 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:28,200 It's not in the meat. It's not even them sneezing or 712 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,280 going to the bathroom or their eyes watering. 713 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,480 They can't pick up the virus anywhere except in their milk. 714 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,600 So for these birds, is it where does it lie inside of them? 715 00:41:39,760 --> 00:41:42,560 It is. Very interesting to me that is, 716 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,720 it's just complex and there's so. 717 00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:47,680 Many, I feel like we need private investigators to figure 718 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:52,120 out, you know, really what it, what is going on here because I, 719 00:41:52,240 --> 00:41:56,200 there's so many pieces that are unknown and it's a virus. 720 00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:00,080 So we know one person's gotten sick and died from the virus, 721 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,560 but have other people been carrying it? 722 00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:05,520 And it passed from a human to a cat? 723 00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:08,400 The person didn't know. We just don't know. 724 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:12,200 So highly contagious. Yeah, well. 725 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:18,320 And I'm honestly unsure if is even be, even though they have 726 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:23,000 found it in in Dairy Milk, if it is even able to be transmitted 727 00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:27,280 to cats through Dairy Milk. Because I know when I went down 728 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:32,720 the rabbit hole of those cats in Texas that they claimed it was 729 00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:37,800 the Dairy Milk on the farm that they were living on. 730 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,040 They were they were not releasing the name of the farm. 731 00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:46,000 But what I found was that any farm like the area that it came 732 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:49,440 from, what I found was that people that worked on that farm 733 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:53,920 did say that there were dead birds found on the property that 734 00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:58,040 also tested positive for HPA. So I don't know how they could 735 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:04,440 conclude that it was the Dairy Milk and not the dead birds that 736 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:07,920 were positive for HPAI that were in contact with the cat. 737 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,400 I don't know how they could do that other than to just say we 738 00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,640 don't want people drinking raw milk, so we're going to blame 739 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,800 the raw milk. Yeah. 740 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:18,560 I think at that time they weren't testing milk, correct, 741 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:20,760 Because now they do test the milk. 742 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,640 They have a Yeah, I think. Yeah. 743 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:27,480 This was, this was back in like late January, I think. 744 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:31,320 Yeah. The other thing is that you know 745 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:33,440 with. With the dairy cows, after about 746 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,920 30 days, that virus is really, it's dormant. 747 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:39,320 It's it's a non issue in their milk. 748 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:43,240 So that the thing that's kind of upsetting and concerning is a 749 00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:45,160 lot of these birds would recover. 750 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:52,000 And you would think that instead of calling all the birds, maybe 751 00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:55,880 keep those live healthy ones that have the virus because 752 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:59,120 there is that, right? Well, that's how I read. 753 00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:03,080 I think it's Joel Salatin, the like really famous regenerative 754 00:44:03,080 --> 00:44:05,000 farmer. That's what he's he's out here. 755 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:09,200 Like, what are you people doing? Like this is how populations 756 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:13,120 overcome these viruses is by letting the ones that survive 757 00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:16,120 the virus live. Like, what are you doing? 758 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,600 He's too smart, I think. He's the big threat to, you 759 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,640 know, Yeah, yeah. People in charge because. 760 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:25,920 He's not wrong. I mean, I feel like it's 761 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,720 virology. One O 1, absolutely, yeah. 762 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,240 So I don't know, it's, it's concerning and it's difficult, 763 00:44:32,240 --> 00:44:35,440 but I think, you know, what happened was there was a lot of, 764 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,200 a lot of people run on fear. You know, you hear them in that 765 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,800 that's, that's it. That's where they go. 766 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:44,760 And so there have been a lot of people turned off from raw food, 767 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:48,400 raw feeding. And I've also noticed quite a 768 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:52,000 few of them are now struggling because, well, my cat's not, you 769 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,160 know, my cat's got issues in the litter box or my cat's throwing 770 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:59,680 up that's not doing well. So it speaks very highly to the 771 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,760 benefits of raw food. And I, I haven't stopped feeding 772 00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:06,680 raw to any of my pets and I'm not really planning on it. 773 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:12,240 I don't, I feel that, you know, the risk is, is definitely low 774 00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:16,440 and the reward is much higher. And it's the same with my cat. 775 00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,440 You know, you spoke about your cat going outdoors and I know 776 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,400 that's not possible for all cats because there are areas that are 777 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:26,920 just, it's too dangerous. But my cat, yeah, she's outside 778 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,200 every day that she wants to be and it is a risk. 779 00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:35,880 And she has gotten injured. She got bit by a rattlesnake, 780 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:40,000 which that was bad, you know. But. 781 00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:46,360 Again, it's, you know, risk versus the benefits and I think 782 00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:50,000 overall being outside and having fresh air and the grounding, I 783 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:52,480 think that's actually a really important piece that people 784 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:58,440 don't realize all really, you know, I mean, she's a great cat. 785 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:02,720 She's in a good mood, she's just pretty easy going. 786 00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:08,200 So there's a lot of factors to consider with with cats and how 787 00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:14,040 you want to raise them for sure. Well, I very much appreciate you 788 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:17,080 coming on and sharing your knowledge and talking about the 789 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:24,520 formulation, the recipes, sourcing, which to me again, I 790 00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:30,800 always like to kind of like asterisks, but like I know that 791 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:36,160 this is a. We are. 792 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:40,440 Privileged to be able to have this kind of conversation on 793 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,400 sourcing on the quality of the food. 794 00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,600 There are so many people out there that are just like, I'm 795 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:50,200 just trying to feed my animal today, you know, like this is a 796 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,320 privileged conversation and I I very much appreciate that. 797 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:56,080 But I also think it is important. 798 00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:00,960 It's important to not put your head in the sand because it's 799 00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:06,360 never going to change unless people as far as like the 800 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:10,200 industrial farming and ranching like those are, they're horrible 801 00:47:10,200 --> 00:47:13,920 things, quite honestly, that I would prefer not to support. 802 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,720 And that's, you know, if, if we just stick our head in the sands 803 00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:18,080 and say, well, this is how it is. 804 00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:21,480 And I'm just trying to get by in life, It just it allows it to 805 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,400 continue. And for me, as you were saying 806 00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:30,680 earlier too, like the the life that the animals live before 807 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:33,920 they are slaughtered so that me and my pets can eat them matters 808 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:36,320 to me. Again, a very privileged thing 809 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:41,960 for me to be able to say that I feel like it needs to be part of 810 00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,560 the conversation we have with ourselves. 811 00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:45,520 Like this is where we're trying to get to. 812 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:50,440 And so any time we can make tiny little adjustments, changes, 813 00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:54,720 whether it's buying that piece of organic produce this week or 814 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,200 visiting the farmers market next weekend and buying from a local 815 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:02,880 rancher like those are, it may seem really small to you in the 816 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:05,720 moment, but they really add up over time. 817 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:11,760 So I appreciate you having that conversation so openly and and 818 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:17,520 that that's part of this brand. Yeah, absolutely. 819 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:19,480 Yeah. And that's, you know, the piece 820 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,680 I was speaking to earlier. I hate it when people realize 821 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:25,760 what raw food, what its potential is, and then, you 822 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:28,440 know, feel bad about where they're at and what they're 823 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,960 capable of doing, you know, with that. 824 00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:36,120 So, you know, I think if my pets weren't on raw food, I would at 825 00:48:36,120 --> 00:48:39,520 the very least, probably get them onto a canned food because 826 00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:43,120 you're right, moisture is key. And just that one piece can 827 00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:47,760 really, you know, flip a switch there, yeah. 828 00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:50,920 Absolutely. Is there anything else you'd 829 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:54,920 like to share that I maybe didn't touch on about the brand 830 00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:58,000 or cats in general? We did. 831 00:48:58,000 --> 00:48:59,760 Send you some parts, correct? Did we? 832 00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:03,160 Yes, you did and I haven't. Opened them yet, but you did you 833 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,440 have a parts department, which is so cute. 834 00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:10,440 We we have a parts. Department and the parts 835 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:14,800 department, you know, they are wonderful additions to your bowl 836 00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:18,040 or to make your own meal mix and match. 837 00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:22,000 We're working on some recipes we'll put put on our website so 838 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:25,360 people can see what things they can add and what it looks like 839 00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:28,840 nutritionally. But my main purpose with that 840 00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:33,800 was just well, initially it was thinking back to 2003 and the 841 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:37,440 struggle I had to make a, a complete meal right. 842 00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:40,800 I couldn't find any DACA Turkey O fall. 843 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:43,480 It was just awful. So I was like, oh, we'll just 844 00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:47,000 send out these parts. And then as time went on, people 845 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:49,680 started requesting parts and it was like, oh OK, well that's a 846 00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:51,560 good part. Let's add this and that. 847 00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:57,000 You know, I brought a few home and now literally there's 848 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:00,440 probably 6 different parts in my fridge open at any time. 849 00:50:01,240 --> 00:50:02,920 All the animals get some of them. 850 00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:09,680 And what I really love is an important piece with cats is and 851 00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:14,800 dogs is they need to use their jaws like it is mental 852 00:50:14,800 --> 00:50:18,160 stimulation for them to have to take a piece of meat and like 853 00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:21,840 figure out, OK, how am I going to get this in in there? 854 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:25,120 So it's great to watch them kind of have to take their time 855 00:50:25,120 --> 00:50:29,080 eating and just the excitement with this variety of different, 856 00:50:29,240 --> 00:50:33,840 you know, foods to munch on. Some of them are a bit big for 857 00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,000 cats. You know, those rabbit legs are 858 00:50:37,040 --> 00:50:38,520 not going to throw down very easily. 859 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,800 But again, if you want to, you know, give your cat or dog 860 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:43,880 mental stimulation and it wears them out. 861 00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:46,960 So if you have a really active dog and it's raining and you 862 00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:48,520 can't really get them out too much. 863 00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:53,360 Yeah. 20 minutes of chewing on something, I think it's good. 864 00:50:53,360 --> 00:50:55,600 Yeah. Yes, that is a very cool that I 865 00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:58,080 actually. Was creating some recipes for a 866 00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:02,720 client last weekend and sent them to your website for some of 867 00:51:02,720 --> 00:51:04,840 the parts. That's great. 868 00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:05,520 Yeah. Thank you. 869 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:08,680 I am surprised I didn't. Think of it, but I appreciate 870 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,600 that you did. And guys, check out it's Eat 871 00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:15,480 Like a lion.com, correct? That's correct. 872 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:15,760 Yeah. And. 873 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:20,160 Then on Instagram. Is it also eat like a lion? 874 00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:24,080 All right, guys, check out Eat like a lion.com. 875 00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:26,800 And I know you're not necessarily all over the 876 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:31,800 country, but you are in some parts of the country, correct in 877 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:35,040 scores we do online. Shipping as well. 878 00:51:35,040 --> 00:51:35,760 Perfect. Yeah. 879 00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,480 But yeah, we're working on, we're working on getting all 880 00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:42,320 across the country. Yes, distribution is difficult. 881 00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,600 So all right, guys, thank you so much for being here and thank 882 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:47,400 you, Sabrina for being here as well. 883 00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:51,880 And from me and Sabrina this week, give your pets a little 884 00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:54,080 extra love and I will talk to you next week. 885 00:51:54,240 --> 00:51:54,680 Thank you.