The Top 3 Things to Biohack Your Dog
The Top 3 Things to Biohack Your Dog
Hi There! This is Krista with Episode #106 on the Wag Out Loud Pawdcast.
Here’s another fun fact about our amazing canine friends: Dogs leave behind a message in their urine. Other dogs that sniff the urine can tell if that dog was male or female, old or young, happy or angry, sick or healthy. That’s a lot of info from just one P mail!
Welcome dog lovers! Want to know how to biohack your dog? What does that actually mean? Well, the expert on that subject, Dr. Jessica Fusch is here to tell us how. Dr. Jess is a healer in the realest sense and combines Western medical knowledge with the Eastern wisdom of Traditional Chinese Food Therapy, Acupuncture as well as other holistic remedies to create a perfect plan from preventative care to a truly proper diet for your beloved pets to live their best and longest lives. Dr. Jess has a dog food cooking show on YouTube called Farmer's Market Fido, hosts the Biohack Your Pets Podcast, and teaches dog parents to cook for their dog through her online course.
Dr. Jess, you are a busy girl. Thank you for taking time out to be with us today.
Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be here.
Well, I am so excited. We were just chatting before the show that I think Dr. Jess, we booked this maybe a year ago. So I have been counting down. And I think we are all ready to hear the top three things to bio hack your dog. What is bio hacking? What does that mean?
That's a really good place to start, actually, because I recently looked up the Oxford dictionary definition. And I was shocked. I was appalled. To be honest. It says something to the effect of utilizing experimental drugs that practices in potentially unethical ways. And like what that is not what I mean by it. That is not at all what I mean by it. That's not what any bio hacker I know means by it. Now, yes, human bio hackers may utilize certain medications in different ways or try to maximize human growth hormone and or caffeine and things and just get the perfect dose and all that stuff. But with our pet, we're not doing anything like that at all. Most of the time when we're talking about biohacking and human biohackers agree. It is small changes in diet and lifestyle that make a big impact on your wellness. That's what I mean by it for our pets. And that's what biohackers need. in general. We're not talking about some of the crazier people out there that do crazy things. Although I am super interested in and fascinated by some of the neat technologies that are out that I consider biohacking tools like PMF devices, you know, stem cell therapy, there's a lot of really interesting things that we have at our fingertips these days. But that's not what you can do for your pets, right? That is going to require a medical professional, but you have so much power to make an impact on your pet wellness day in and day out as a dog or cat. But we're talking mostly about dogs today, as a dog parent, really their health and well being is in your hands, because they're with you every single day.
Yeah. And we have to be their advocate.
For sure. Yeah, exactly.
Well, Dr. Jess, you are a veterinarian. But you have been on quite the health journey yourself. Can you quickly share what that was like?
It's a continuing journey and should be for all of us. And it's something that we have to keep coming back to. And I think that's probably one of the reasons that I'm so passionate about these topics is because I have to make sure that I continue to be intentional about the way that I take care of myself, I have to really put it in my calendar to make sure that I go to the gym or go to yoga or whatever, you know, I'm feeling is going to be best for my body to get the blood going to get the sweat coming out right. And to make sure that I'm eating healthful, vibrant foods, drinking plenty of water, and having quiet downtime and rest time and sleeping. These are things that if I don't really pay attention to them, and I'm not intentional about them, I will fall off and I will suffer. Right and then everyone around me will suffer. I lost a lot of weight. I did a fitness competition. Last year, I was very, very proud of myself. And now I'm working more on really mindful wellness, just really paying attention. Am I actually hungry or am I doing the bodybuilding thing about I have to eat every three hours because it's soaked your metabolism, right so I'm learning new tools every single day for myself and figuring out what works really well for me, and I urge everybody to do the same for themselves too.
congratulations on getting this far. And continuing to learn that is just so cool. We can all be better versions of ourselves no matter what. Always. Yeah. Okay, well, what everybody's here for is to learn about your three top bio hacks for your dog. So why don't we get into that? What is number one?
So the first thing that we need to think about for our dogs is exercise and enrichment. Now, they're not exactly the same thing. But I am lumping them together in my first biohacking tip, because a lot of people will just kind of let it be right. They will just let their dogs run around the yard or run around the house, if they're small dogs, and they get they do get a lot of exercise that way. And they do play their own games and make their own fun. However, if you aren't intentional about providing enrichment for them, you may not like the fun that they make. Yes, they may think that chewing up your couch is a really great enrichment tool for themselves, right? They think that like counter surfing and getting into the trash is a super interesting, fun way to sniff out all the smells. So we need to be careful about giving their mind something to do. a lot of dogs, every breed is a little bit different. But a lot of dogs are working breeds, they've been bred to have a job. And especially dogs like that, like Labrador Retrievers, and spaniels, and all of our working breeds, they really, really need that enrichment, especially when they're younger. They also need exercise. And it depends on the breed and how healthy your dog is, you have to work up to running with them. For example, let's say you want to take your dog running with you. And that's a great idea. But you want to start small, just like with yourself, you don't know if your dog has the stamina that you have, if you're having been running, you're probably about on the same page. But if you have been running, if you're an avid runner, you can't just get a new dog and expect them to keep up. some will, some won’t. But you have to work up to it. You have to make sure that you do it. My husband actually said to me the other day. I think Maggie is too old for that now, like she can't run with me. And I said, baby, well, she's not going to run marathons, but don't give up on her. Don't do that. Because if you you know, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. And she's turning 11. But she can still jump up in the air and catch a frisbee and she loves to go running. She just wants to take a little break after about a mile and then she'll get back to it. Sure. So they're a little bit different. And they are not necessarily long distance runners. But they do need that exercise that's really, really important for their long term well being. she has never had a joint problem, thank god knock on wood. You know, a lot of dogs I see that like a pitty lab mix. And a lot of those dogs tear their cruciate ligaments. Yeah, it's so common, especially jumping in the air and twisting around a with a frisbee in her mouth, right? She still has great joints. And part of that is because of her continuing to use all her muscles and stretch and run and play and do those sorts of activities and not be sedentary. And of course, that's good enrichment. There's a lot of enrichment tools that you can use for your dogs. Now, there are local theaters. And I'm sure that you have featured some of these things on your, on your limited time offer shows. Yeah, they have lick pads. They even have like a video game for dogs now. But there's different up dog TV and there's dog music.
Like snuffle mats, my dog, Winston loves his snuffle mat.
Yeah, those are super cool. It's super interesting for them to utilize their power of mouth, right? They have a much better sniffer than we do. Yeah. And so they want to get in there and find the thing. And that's what a lot of dogs were actually bred to do for so many generations. They just need to be able to utilize that or else they're going to kind of go stir crazy. So that's tip number one.
Can I add to that?
Yeah, absolutely.
So exercise both physical and mental. Yeah, people know, a tired dog is a wonderful dog. So they're better behaved, they're calm, they're focused. And it not only benefits them, but it benefits you as well. And I think, you know, going out and doing these activities with your dog, which there's a long list of activities that you can do. It helps your dog build trust and confidence in you, as well as their environment. So we really have to think about not only the physical exercise, But to your point, the mental as well and there's so many tools and all of this has been shown to reduce you know a lot of behavior problems. ones like excessive licking and barking and chewing and digging. And all the other anxiety related behaviors. dogs need this outlet. So I love this biohack.
Yeah, I really think this, you said it so well, it's all related to anxiety, a lot of those behaviors are related to anxiety. And if they don't have enough physical exercise, but especially if they don't have mental exercise and enrichment in that way, they just won't be able to live their best life, they just, they'll be surprised in their mind. And that may result in damage to your home or to themselves. Yep, but it may not, but it's still just not them. Being able to be the happiest that they could be. This is what we want for all of our dogs. I know.
Right? And I love teaching Winston new tricks. Because those last a lifetime. And he just loves learning. And it's so funny when I just want him to do one trick. He thinks, okay, well, I'm gonna do them all. Yeah, show off, one after the other. Oh, yeah. Yeah, let's do it. And you can teach old dogs new tricks.
Absolutely. You can. I don't know how old Winston is. But it doesn't matter. I know that you can teach at any age. And how old is Winston?
He'll be 12 next month.
Yay. Awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. So yeah, keep it up. It's just a lot more fun to have a dog, who is well behaved. And it's a lot more fun for them to because they don't really want to be not right. They're not trying to be naughty. I got a quote from a friend of mine recently, and I have to give her credit, Michelle, she said they're not giving you a hard time. They're having a hard time. And that really was like, Oh, that makes so much sense.
Ponder that. That's good. All right, let's go on to biohack number two.
So number two, we could talk about probably all day. But I will try to be concise. Because this is basically my favorite thing to talk about. We're going to be talking about nutrition, nutrition, and water I'm lumping together, because these are the things that we put into their body every single day. I would say this is probably the biggest one, this is probably the most important one, mostly because dogs, they will exercise and they will find their own enjoyment. You may not like it, but they will. But they can't get their own food when they're living in your house. Right. But you are in 100% control over their food and their water. And water, it's an easier one to change. If you've been feeding one certain dog food, we'll get into that in a minute. But water is pretty easy. You can have your water tested, there's so many companies out there that will test your water wherever you live in the world, you can have your water tested, or you can just get a water filtration system that you utilize. So I have a sent Santevia water filter thing. It's like a big tower of water filters and it's on my counter. And I love it. I'm not like paying to plug them. I just liked it a lot. It looks like a big Brita, but it has an additional filter at the top. And then it has rocks in the bottom. So that was narrow second, so and it tastes really good. Yeah, it definitely makes the pH a little bit higher because of the minerals. I really like that and that's fine. Also, I use for my dog's water. So I can just put the tap water through that. Or we just buy five gallon jugs of water, you know that reverse osmosis filters that you can refill over and over again at your local grocery store typically. So yeah, either test your water or get filtered water because there are chemicals in the water. There are heavy metals, in all water pretty much. It's pretty rare for there not to be any whether it's chlorine, but sometimes it's things like lead things that are really dangerous. mercury and lead. Chlorine is in almost every single water. And they consider that as a disinfectant, which, you know, I know that we have chlorine in our body, and a little bit is okay, but too much is not good. And then there's also medications found in the water, there's hormonal birth control. There's antibiotics that are just still in the water if you have the water tested. If you go and do some research online about what is in water, it's kind of intense. So this is a pretty easy one. Just give them filtered water.
What about spring water? spring water should be good, right?
Because the earth naturally filters, I think. Yep, yep. And I think it tastes great and drink it myself. I think it's fine. I think it's a big improvement over most tap water. If you get the magic water from the mountains of Fiji or New Zealand or wherever, where they supposedly get the Topo Chico All right, they have the like, naturally carbonated. Yep. But dogs don't want that. I don't think there would be no, I don't think so. It tastes really good. So yeah, we digress.
Food, food is the number one thing is basically the biggest decision we make for our dogs because we are typically feeding them. Now, I would recommend not doing this, but we're typically feeding them the exact same thing twice a day for years on end. That's what the typical dog owner does. It's what they've been taught to do. It's not because they're bad people. It's not because they don't love their dogs. It's just what is traditional in our society at the moment. And they're feeding a dry kibble. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to be honest with you and tell you that you should not do that. You should not feed kibble at all. I know, I know. I know. You're okay with you know, I have three kids. I have three kids like I get it. I don't want to make anybody feel bad. But I just have to be honest. Oh, what is the problem? Yeah, yeah, the kibble is a problem because it is so highly processed. That's one of the reasons it has been extruded, which is just a process of overheating and breaking down every single ingredient in there for multiple reasons to kill any possible bacteria to break down the proteins and all the carbohydrates and ingredients so that they're easily mixed together evenly. And pretty much the body doesn't really recognize them as those components in the same way that it does recognize Whole Foods. So then they have to go back in and add in fat, and add in basically like a multivitamin powder. Since that's all they're gonna. Yeah, synthetic vitamins and minerals, which we all used to be told to take a multivitamin. Now we know that those aren't really very well absorbed. If we took a powder, it might be a little better, you take the liquids, it's a little better and for us, so it's just like a bone, like you're getting a little extra for the things that you could maybe be deficient in, because a lot of us don't have the world's best diet anyway. But for dogs, they don't need that they shouldn't need that they should eat a whole food diet that is species appropriate, right. The other thing about dogs is that their jaw does not move side to side, the way ours does, they cannot actually grind food. So they're not really even able chew those kibbles. They pretty much just swallow them whole. They could break a few apart with their big molars in the back. But they're just they're not able to chew them. So they end up with dry, highly processed food in their stomach, which I'm sure we've all seen dogs that have vomited up undigested food The next day, right, so we're 12 to 24 hours later, and that food has not changed. This is a problem. This is not appropriate. It's also completely dehydrated, natural food is 70% water. That is how it should be. That is what's good for the kidneys. That's what's good for our digestive system, the dog's digestive system. And the dog's digestive system is a little bit different than ours. But not that much. They do have a few different requirements between a human and the dog because dogs can't grind. Like I said before their teeth are made for chomping through bones and tearing flesh. Okay, so you're not going to be sending your dog out to go hunting. But we can kind of meet in the middle. And I do think it's okay to give dogs carbohydrates. However, it is not a requirement. Even AAFCO does not have carbohydrates listed as a requirement for dog food has no minimum requirement, which is just shocking to me that all dog food contains at least 40% carbohydrate. And it does not because it can't turn into a little cracker nugget unless it has that. And the carbohydrate contents. The increased sugar, which is what carbohydrates are, will increase inflammation. We're learning more and more and they also offset the microbiome. To see this is why I can talk about this all day long. But this is a few reasons I've listed that the kibble is causing harm. I don't want to mince words here. kibble is causing harm. This is what I believe.
I don't think everybody who makes the kibble or the veterinary nutritionists and veterinarians who are recommending kibble are bad people. they are not bad people. They have just been taught this is the way to do it. And that you have to have this perfectly complete and balanced food every single meal. I would argue that variety from some weight and balance, but I'm totally willing to meet them halfway and go ahead and make the home cooked food complete and balanced. But still, I urge variety, because if you don't mix it up, you could still get some deficiencies over time. Because not every dog absorbs all the nutrients or digest different food components in the same way, just like people. So if we mix it up more than they're more likely to get everything that they need over time, right? That's what I recommend. I recommend either a home cooked or a raw diet. Depending on your dog, I find that the older dogs, if they haven't been eating raw, do better with home cooked. They're really really sensitive one. In my practice, I find that they do better with home cooked and then all the rest of the healthy ones do great with raw and it's amazing. They get better dental health right away. You notice within two weeks, they no longer have foul breath, they have sweet breath. You'll notice better digestion, better skin, just less inflammation, and overall less of all the “itises”. you'll have less otitis, dermatitis, gastritis, arthritis, like all of the itises. you want to have less of that you want to have less inflammation in their body, because inflammation over time will unfortunately, up regulate the wrong genes. And the inflammatory cytokines, which is all those have been all over the news because of COVID. Right? Yes, the inflammatory cytokines are what is causing people to die from COVID. So they're not good. We don't want them. they're good if your body needs to fight off something, an infection that can happen. If your dog's body wants to need to fight off an infection. For a short term, they're beneficial. But every day, throughout years of their life, they're actually very detrimental. And too much sugar. Too much carbohydrate will increase those inflammatory cytokines as well as the Omega six/omega three ratio. the omega six omega three ratio, ideally should be between two to six, two to one to six to one of the six to three ratio. That does look confusing. But right now in the dog food, it's about 30 to one, omega six to omega three, typically. Yep. And that's causing inflammation as well.
That's why kibble doesn't last that it goes rancid, which a lot of people don't know, either.
Yeah, it's already been sitting on the shelf in the store for quite a while before you even get it. And then you expose it to air and leave it in the pantry for a month, sometimes at a time. All of this all of those things. This is why we have to go ahead and stop feeding what is most convenient, and what's cheapest and start feeding what's best.
Okay, that's a good one. We're running out of time, Dr. Jess, so why don't we move on to number three.
So the third biohacking tip that I have for you today is something that we sort of started the show off with, and that is, take care of yourself. Because our dogs, we know that they smell fear, right? They pick up on our energy, they pick up on our vibe. And if we're constantly anxious, which a lot of us are, let's be honest, it can be really stressful our world these days, we're just always often trying to work real hard on the go. stressing out about whatever's going on. On the news, although I don't watch the news. I recommend don't want to Yeah, but so there's there's a biohacker hacking tab right there. There you go. It's been especially hard on. our dogs. Yeah, it'll help your dog too. Because if you're all worked up and anxious, your dog is going to feel that and the increased cortisol leads to problems, right? It leads to inflammation. Again, it all comes back down to inflammation, but it can actually imbalance your gut too. So the microbiome is really, really important. The microbiome releases a lot of good endorphins. But if you're constantly under stress, then your gut can't heal itself, and the microbiome becomes imbalanced and the bad bacteria actually overgrow, even just from being under stress too often. It's hard for the heart, right? We know that being under stress all the time is bad for your heart. And our heart runs on an electrical system. We measure it with an EKG, right? everybody's seen that. and your dog’s electrical system will interact with your electrical system. And if you have a rapid and irregular heart rate, that is because of stress that will feed over into your dog. So going for a long, quiet walk with your dog is very, very helpful, especially in nature, maybe on the beach or in the woods. there's actually phytochemicals floating around in the air that you can inhale. And that is good for your dog too. But mostly it's you taking care of yourself being fit. When you cook for yourself, right ahead and go ahead and cook for your dog. You can look at my YouTube channel and get some videos, do it together, put in the love. Give yourself the intentional wellness that you deserve. And that will feed over on to your dog's life, too.
That's so true. And when we talked before, you know, you said yes, dogs take on our diseases that you've seen people… that your clients and their dog has an issue, and oh, what do you know, the person that owns the dog has that same issue?
Yes, it happens all the time. One of my favorite stories to tell is a dog named Tiny. it was a dachshund and she was little, but she had an arrhythmia a tiny heart arrhythmia. And I told him that we didn't have the capability at the clinic what I was doing really, for that day, but that she would need to see a cardiologist and she would need to have an EKG done. And and this man is probably about 70 years old. And he had on a white t shirt, you know, a Hanes white t shirt, like the typical white t shirt and a ball cap. And he pulls down the color of his shirt, and he shows me the two little sutures. He says yeah, this is where I just had my pacemaker put in. And I said, Yep, okay, so you know exactly how this goes. And I know that that little dog had that arrhythmia, because of him, not because of him. it's not a blame thing. It's just that we are so ingrained with each other, we love each other so much our dogs, like we love our dogs, and our dogs love us so much that we almost become one. You can even look it up online and start to see how a lot of people end up looking like their dogs. Yeah, and that's a real thing. Like that is just the way life goes. We're all energetic beings. And so our energy is going to interact with each other. I see it in back issues, I see it in diabetes with sometimes you could try explain that away with lifestyle. Either way, it doesn't matter to me, it's still kind of the same sort of thing. But it's so much more than that. I mean, gallbladder issues, some things like the heart arrhythmia, the dry eye, glaucoma, certain specific types of cancers. I see this, I see this so often, where the client will say, Oh, my, I know all about that. Because I also have that problem, or my husband is currently going through chemo for that exact same thing. I mean, I'm always blown away. Like, it never kind of gets old for me, I still get goosebumps like, Man, you are just so connected. I don't want anybody to feel bad. I just want you to realize that your pets are kind of like a canary in a coal mine for you. They're Sentinel species. So take that to heart. Go ahead and use your pet’s illness as a reason for you to do better for yourself. Because most diseases these days can at least be improved, if not completely prevented by lifestyle choices.
Absolutely. This is great, great advice. Well, as we wrap up, Dr. Jess, I know that you have an offer on your course, on how to cook for your dog. So that obviously is a hot topic. You know, the home cooked meals? How do you make them complete and balanced? Because surfing the internet does not mean that you're going to find a complete and balanced meal. And chicken and rice only. I know people want to do good and think that's enough, but it really isn't. So how can they find out more about this great course on how to do this?
OFFER: Check out Dr. Jess’ amazing course on how to cook for your dog (hot topic) https://www.drjessicafusch.com/diydogfood
Dr. Jess, where can everyone find out more information about you, Key Vet Care, Farmer's Market Fido, and the Biohack Your Pets Podcast? https://keyvetcare.com/
Social Media: FB: @KeyVeterinaryCare IG: @keyvetcare
Dr. Jess, we so appreciate your time today. Thank you for being the bio hack queen. We should all look into bio hacks not only for ourselves, but our dogs as well. And this was great information and we would love to have you back.
Thank you Krista. You're awesome. I love watching your shows and your podcast is provides so much valuable information. Remember our dogs are a biohacking tool for ourselves. And we owe it to them to do the best we can for them.
We appreciate our sponsor: Mushroom Matrix
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