The Science of Pet Wellness Magazine Vol. 1

The Science of Pet

Wellness

"Everything I know, I learned from dogs" Nora Roberts

"THE WORLD WOULD BE A NICER PLACE IF EVERYONE HAD THE ABILITY TO LOVE AS UNCONDITIONALLY AS A DOG."

M.K. CLINTON

GET TO KNOW TANNISHA

Taking her knowledge and translating that over into animal wellness, she loves helping pet parents understand that it’s the smallest actions that can create long lasting, abundant health With a passion and love for pets that is deeply rooted from her years of experience as a health professional

Tannisha has been mentored by and worked with world renowned industry leaders providing her with the experience and insight to understand not just what helps the body, but how the body works, communicates, responds, on a functional and intimate level

Her belief system is simple, “Your body is a temple What you put in it will either make you live longer or break you down faster The choice is ours.”

Tannisha’s passion continues to grow as does her “pack” Her 7 year old Conure parrot, Paka, and her 7 month old Pittie, Opal

Her dedication to their overall health and wellness while applying the 3 key pillars of pet wellness is of the utmost importance Fueling her inspiration to not just raise the bar for her own animals, but to keep spreading the word and inspiration to her fellow pet parents.

Tannisha Duncan

CoFounder Director of Education | Pet Matrx

PILLARS OF PET WELLNESS

MOVE THINK

Gut and Immune support is the foundation to overall health. The precursor to all other systems within the body. Protect and serve never meant more.

Battling inflammation and oxidative stress will keep your dog in that window of “prime” for much longer. Leading to a happier healthier dog. Movement

LIFE

Healthy cognitive function is vital to a dog’s longevity. Cellular protection and regeneration are at the forefront of this complex battlefield known as the brain and central nervous system.

“IF ALL YOU CAN DO IS ONE THING TO IMPROVE YOUR DOG’S LIFE, THAT IS WORTH EVERYTHING”

A dogs defense works from the inside out. Welcome to the cornerstone of pet wellness.

ROOT

Let’s break it down and start with focusing on the building blocks for what helps protect them in the first place, the GUT!

The building blocks for your dog’s protection begins in the gut. IN the gut is literal. The microbiome that builds protects them from disease while the immune systems is the line of defense for pathogens. Think foreign and domestic.

A dogs immune system is highly influenced by what their gut interfaces with. As data and research shows, we have become increasingly aware of probiotics, prebiotics etc., and all the positive effects they can have. We want to explore ways you can build up your dog’s protection with simple everyday changes you might not be aware of.

IMMUNE & GUT

Supporting a healthy microbiome:

Water

Surprisingly, this is a highly overlooked area that GREATLY impacts your dogs health If you are currently using municipal tap drinking water for your dog to drink, we want to encourage you to making adjustments to their water for 3 specific contaminants:

Municpal waters are highly loaded with PFAS, PFOAS, EPA’s These are found as a few of the TOP cancer linked contaminants found in tap water across the United States.

Simple rule: If you don’t drink it, they don’t drink it.

EWG PFAS contamination map

Dog Food & Treats

With the food, making sure that you are inspecting your dog food/ ingredient lists, and making the transition to cleaner sources of kibble if you choose to keep using kibble for convenience (We like Open Farm as a kibble alternative), decrease the amount of carbohydrates your dog is fed (since they do not need them to live a thriving life), and even transition them into eating raw + whole food diets, if you have the ability to make that fit your budget within your family dynamics.

Your dogs body will love high quality protein & healthy sources of fats You can even take it a step further by introducing low sugar fruits and vegetables which offer great amounts of anti oxidants, which help to rebuild, preserve, an expand their cellular potential.

Bowl Boosting

Choose any items from this list of “super boosters

Broccoli

Kale

Strawberries

Blueberries

Sardines

Whole raw egg (with the shell)

Chia seed or flax seed

Kefir

Carrots

Bell peppers

"MOVE FORWARD. GOOD THINGS ARE UP AHEAD."

Hormone release, strong muscles and mental acuteness are just some of the added benefits movement gives our dogs.

MOVE MOBILITY

What comes to mind when you think of your dog being in its prime? Running, swimming, playing fetch? The benefits of these behaviors go much deeper.

MOVEMENT&LONGEVITY

Through many conversations, we’ve spoken with dog parents who always reference their pups “prime time.” That time of life that was so full of joy and happiness with their dog, because their dog was living fully, out of adolescence, and before hitting a decline in its health that comes with accelerated aging.

Here’s the problem: Our dogs will not be in their prime for forever. They have a limited time here, and we believe that we can create a greater expansion in that prime time for them, by supporting their bodies.

Remember, dogs have a metabolic rate that is 7 10 times faster than us humans. A few days can be equivalent to a month!

MOBILITY

Every day they are aging, and they will age even faster if they are not moving or operating in the ways they are meant to. Dogs are meant to move on a daily basis. In fact, each specific breed has a role, a job, to fulfill in which involves movement.

For example, the Corgi: The Corgi’s role of herding cattle descends from its time back in Pembroke, Wales. This means, these little long bodied, short legged pups did a load of running, while using and relying on their speed, joint health, and cardiovascular system

“A dogs genetic potential cannot be reached through a sedentary lifestyle”

What does this mean?

WHATARESOMEWAYSYOUCANHELP PREVENTDISCOMFORT&INFLAMMATION FORYOURDOG?

Help them stay active through healthy movement!

Start practicing daily movement that allows your dog to express their body through walking, running, swimming, etc. Movement for dogs helps stimulate their lymphatic system, which helps their bodies eliminate toxins that build up Movement for them also of course stimulates healthy circulatory flow, helping them keep their blood healthy, while delivering oxygen to the tissue, helping to decrease inflammation.

We need to ensure that our dogs are being exposed to movements that can help them stimulate their bodies, engaging their genetic potential, while also making sure they are not being over or under worked, through movement as both can lead to increased inflammation.

Signs your dog has inflammation issues:

Limping and/or stiffness

Lethargy

Loss of Appetite

Irritability

Depression (look for body language)

Frequent slipping while walking around

Licking, chewing or even biting the area thats in discomfort

Swollen pads

Eye Redness or Drooping Lids

HEALTHY HOME

PAW SANITIZER SPRAY

Tablespoon Aloe Vera Gel

Drops of protective blend EO Water

In a 2oz. glass spray bottle, combine Aloe Vera Gel & protective blend EO. Fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake until combined

To use: Spray on paws, wipe off with damp lint proof cloth

What factors dictate the percentage that can be absorbed?

All compounds, concerning supplementation, are either polar or non polar charged. Lipids, otherwise known as fats, oils, waxes, etc... are non polar, making them hydrophobic, therefore oil and water don’t mix. This is due to water being polar charged.

BIOAVAILABILITY

WRITTEN BY WILL B

Bioavailability in simple terms is the rate at which a compound can be absorbed. When we’re talking about oral supplementation, compounds must go through first pass metabolism in the liver which then gets digested through the release of liver enzymes, then a percentage of the remaining is utilized through absorption.

What is it? And why is it the most important word in pet supplementation no one is talking about?

WHATTODO?

Step 1: You’re already doing it! Ask questions and find answers.

Step 2: Find a wellness partner.

Companies who are at the very least talking about solving these problems.

Step 3: Be consistent. Random use will equal random results.

CURCUMIN

Let’s take curcumin for example. Curcumin is a lipid, a nonpolar charged compound with very low bioavailability, in some cases non detectable. If you look at curcumin and say that your dog can only absorb 5%, this leads to a host of new questions:

Is that why my dog isn’t getting the desired results?

Should I just give them more?

What happens to the other 95%? Why is my dog feeling worse/lethargic?

A dog’s liver works extremely hard and has many functions When supplementing, you must consider the extra work you are having the liver perform through digestion. Over supplementation can lead to Hepatotoxicity through the excessive release of Cytochrome P 450 liver enzymes.

Supplementation is a necessary means to a dog’s overall health and longevity. When was the last time you saw a dog chewing on marshmallow root, magnolia bark, or turmeric? Yet as omnivores, they get all the benefits nature has to offer through polyphenols and flavonoids, also known as phytocompounds. It’s our job to deliver these compounds as efficiently as possible with the least amount of taxation on the liver.

Sources:

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/9/1/41/4848948

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15180496/

"“We're all just walking each other home.”

Ram Dass

Creating calm within our dogs cognitive function starts from the inside.

THINK CALMNESS

How can we look at our dog’s level of calmness from an alternative perspective?

COGNITIVEFUNCTION& MENTALDECLINE

A closer look at canine behavior through a lens with identifying factors, we need to understand that calmness within a dog, has everything to do with their nervous system, the signals that are sent from the brain, along with other key body systems, and what its being impacted by

How a dog responds or reacts within its physical body is a reflection of what’s going on within them, and hitting their neurological system.

Key factors impacting the canine nervous system: Movement Environment Nutrition

KNOW ABOUT MOVEMENT

and cognitive function

Daily movement for your animals keeps their musculoskeletal system happy, helps them keep balanced in their equilibrium, along with supporting their nervous system to develop and maintain “hand + eye + mouth” coordination for them.

The innate function of movement allows your dogs body to send signals, biochemical messages, and various forms of communication throughout the body all day long, 24/7, to activate healing potential, growth potential, immune system response, keeping all of the electrical pathways that control the organ systems to be alert & operating optimally.

The simple fact is that humans alone don’t move enough through their days, and mostly live a sedentary lifestyle (More than 60 percent of U.S. adults do not engage in the recommended amount of activity. Approximately 25 percent of U.S. adults are not active at all)

How much are you moving your body on a daily basis? If you’re not moving enough in your day, your dog probably isn’t getting the movement they need, either.

Movement for your dog is incredibly critical for its quality of life. Head outdoors for the additional "grounding" benefits.

In fact, a study conducted in 2016 states that 22.6% of dogs over the age of 9 will display & suffer from cognitive impairment. This should come across as alarming to you, while at the same time inspire you to encourage your dog to move on a daily basis, with you!

The best part, is that daily movement for your dog keeps their brain engaged. This in itself is so critical as many elder dogs suffer from Dementia today.

Movement for the Mind

Take them on a walk/run/job, with you!

(Don’t start running puppies too early as you can close their growth caps, for joint development)

Fetch, Frisby

Nose work (requires movement + mental engagement)

Flirt pole! (Most often used with cats, but works great for dogs)

If you’ve got a pool, use it for low impact exercise like swimming!

ENVIORNMENT

Supporting the canine nervous system:

Chemical Free Home

Chemical based products contain what are called endocrine disruptors + also contribute to creating inflammation Endocrine disruptors interfere with how a dogs hormonal system communicates Where there is inflammation, there is problem. We want to help alleviate problems in our dogs health as much as possible, not contribute to it.

Products to look out for:

Laundry detergents

Most household cleaners like Febreze

Carpet shampoos

Hard floor cleaners

Aromatic devices with fragrances (Dog approved Essential Oils are fabulous for the home, & here’s a link to what we recommend.

Safety

Dogs need a great amount of love, attention, and structure, yes! But what they also need is a place they can go to for sleep, recovery from play, a place that allows them to feel like they have their very own territory due to their nature of being den animals.

Think of their ancestors, the wolves, and how wolves retreat to their primal caves You know the phrase, “the man cave?” This is applicable just as that, with your very own dog, regardless of their age

This place of safety and rest for your animal allows their minds to unwind. When it comes to puppies, this is essential, especially due to the fact that as they are growing and expanding their minds through the training process.

Creating a safe space for your dog means that you are creating an environment that supports its mental health

Grounding

Grounding, is referring to a form of therapy that reconnects the electrical body, back to the earth, by receiving an abundant amount of negative ions in which replenish depleted energy. Critically important for dogs that remain indoors for most of their life

The simple act of taking your dog into nature, natural element environments, which flood their bodies with negative ions, creating positive physiological changes that support healthy cells in their bodies, while decreasing inflammation.

A lack of nature and grounding for your dogs can mean an acceleration of aging, inflammation, and decreased mental cognition & nervous system function.

Canine-Project-Vol

NUTRITION

What you feed your dog’s nervous system impacts its ability to respond to stress A dog’s full body function relies on the nervous system Nerves play a role in organ stress response

From the subtleties of your dog knowing how to stand, walk, sit, run, stay, or flee from danger, these all rely on the communication output of a healthy nervous system

Reduce processed food Avoid GMO's & conventionally grown ingredients Source natural, organic and grass fed foods Include Polyphenols Supplement for individual support

How we feed our dog will either help or hinder our dog’s nervous system. Inflammation plays a key role in their bodies ability to communicate properly. By feeding them foods that are minimally processed and nutrient rich, you give your dog that mental edge for health and longevity

"You are what you eat"

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