Best Dog Supplements? A Vet's Rule: Change One Thing and Keep a Journal

Chris NobleSo, Dr. Katie, thank you so much for joining us. We would love to learn more about you and for you to introduce yourself to us.

Dr KatieOkay. I am the chief veterinary officer here at Santa Barbara Humane, and I've been here for almost seven years now. Really excited to be a part of this program. I was working and living down in Los Angeles for 15 years, so to come up to this beautiful location and to be able to help so many animals in this community has been pretty remarkable.

Cameron MainWhen was the time maybe when you said to yourself, I know I want to be a vet?

Dr KatieI think when I was little, when I was young, I really, really loved animals. I really loved being with dogs and connecting with them. I thought that was pretty amazing. And then I did spend a little time when I was about 10 years old at a veterinary office and sick dogs came in and I got really upset and said maybe this isn't for me. So I took a pause and went away from that for some time and then when I was doing my undergrad at UC Santa Barbara I was in this amazing class that just was a lot about anatomy and the animal. And I was just so amazed by the body and how it all worked that I realized that my love of animals and my love of science could really be combined in the field. So it was a long, long trip coming around to it.

Cameron MainHow did the opportunity present itself to come and work for Santa Barbara Humane? What was the story of how you arrived here?

Dr KatieI did go to my undergrad in Santa Barbara, so I've always really loved Santa Barbara. And my sister came out and lived with me my last year, and then she never left. So I've been able to visit a lot throughout my time in Los Angeles. And I was excited to come live up here next to her. And when the job opening came available, I was very excited to come up here, and I met our current CEO, and she was very, very convincing that I was going to be able to do so much great stuff working with her. So I was really excited to take the job.

Chris NobleWe've heard a lot about the impact of just having the vet services for the community. What do you think the biggest impact you can make here is?

Dr KatieI really think that I really believe that everyone deserves to have a pet. Dogs and cats especially just make such a difference in our lives. And the ability to provide an access to veterinary care for people that don't have a lot of money has just been such an incredible thing to be a part of. People that are coming to us, whatever is going on in our life, that they're having a difficult time, being able to help that pet and keep the pet with its people is pretty amazing at the end of the day to get home and feel like you've made that difference for them.

Cameron MainIs every day then the same or is it always crazy, always different here?

Dr KatieMy days are definitely always different. I help oversee two different locations and a mobile. So I'm working with my team. There's nine veterinarians. And sometimes someone's asking me to give a second opinion on an x-ray. Sometimes they're asking me to jump into a surgery with them. Sometimes I'm talking to clients that might be having some sort of issue. So that management level is definitely every day is different. And then today, a bunch of kittens just arrived. So I'll go and give a little love and visit with some kittens too. So yeah, every day is so different.

Chris NobleDo you see common threads amongst the different cases that come through the vet?

Dr KatieReally, I don't. It's pretty crazy how different things can be. I really love surgery, and a lot of the veterinarians that I've hired on really, really love surgery, too. So that is something that's really nice that we're able to provide, because when animals need surgery, it's so expensive to go through that. So... Some of the things that we're really helping with are... Conditions that could be like $10,000 at an emergency clinic, and we're able to help for under $1,000. And my team just loves it. We have a lot of students that come through, so they get to see stuff that they might not see anywhere else in their training year. So that's a really cool thing that we get to do.

Chris NobleAmazing. And these surgeries that are expensive, I imagine they're quite advanced or far along in the medical journey for the dog. Is there something you wish you could tell people to be more proactive around dog health that would maybe prevent them getting to that point?

Dr KatieYeah, well, I think that some of the clients that we see maybe don't know that we're here or they don't think that they have the finances to be able to come in. So they might wait a little longer than they should when they're seeing some sort of issue, hoping that it resolves and then taking too long to come back. To the veterinarian. So hopefully, you know, everyone is so in tune with most of their dogs and cats because they're living with them and they're sleeping with them and they're, you know, they're with them all the time. They know when something's not right. So trying to seek out that help earlier if they notice something's wrong.

Cameron MainThe CEO, she talks a lot about being reactive to, I guess, health in general. Would you say that it's important for our dogs to, I guess, maybe have a more human or how can I say it? Should we approach maybe our dog's nutrition the way that we approach our own to some degree?

Dr KatieYeah, I think that a lot of people have started to do that in general. I think that there's so much stuff that's out on the market, it can be a little bit overwhelming. And trying to figure out what to do, everyone wants. The best thing for their pet because they want it to live as long as possible so um there I think there's a lot of confusion around all of that also where to go and and how to get that support which I can understand is is difficult veterinarians aren't necessarily trained in a lot of the products out there and when new stuff's coming out all the time it can be difficult to know where to get that information But I know I feed my dog human-grade food, and I feel so lucky that I'm able to afford those kind of things to make sure that I'm doing whatever I can to have her live as long as possible.

Cameron MainIt's something that we for sure hear and see a lot is that there are so many different supplements on the market. We said this to you the first time we spoke. This was our mission was to try and really, I guess, cut out the noise a little bit and to the filler as well, to some degree. When we saw you walking in this morning with your green juice, your smoothie, we were like, OK, Dr. Katie gets it.

Dr KatieShe does it herself.

Cameron MainYeah, she does it herself. She's like us.

Dr KatieYeah, yeah. I think that since we've been talking and hearing more about your product, I think that it is interesting how it it is it is that additive it's not to take away from anything and I think that um that aspect of it is is really intriguing that yeah you know we all eat our three meals a day and take our multivitamins but we're always trying to supplement with our superfoods and whatever else that we can put into the drink to hide the flavor of something potentially

Cameron MainThat was exactly the philosophy. We wanted to try and fill the diet gap for the dogs. So no matter, I guess, what diet they were having, whether it was kibble, canned food, like fresh frozen food, that was basically our objective. As you say, it's just, you don't have to change your dog's diet. You can just, this could be the new golden standard. You can just add extra because you're never gonna do any harm by giving your dog more.

Dr KatieYeah, yeah. Well, and if you were potentially trying to get all those different things into the diet, it might end up being a lot more calories than a dog would need. So, yeah. Yeah.

Cameron MainAnd even, I mean, this is what we laughed about this morning. Every day you tell me that your husband has to eat, he has to have his black pepper and his turmeric, obviously to release the good nutrients that are in his diet or maybe in the green juice that you also force him to drink in the morning. That's something, I mean, that was, believe it or not, those were some of the first things we asked our nutritionist about when we formulated because... Chris and I also do that every day. Ginger turmeric and also, yeah, ginger is a big part of it too. And it works the same way for dogs. Yeah. With the release of those nutrients.

Chris NobleYeah, that's something I was, I guess, surprised by when we started on this journey a couple of years ago is how similar a dog's cellular system is to a human cellular system and how they essentially need to be treated the same.

Dr KatieYeah.

Chris NobleDid you study human anatomy when you were in college?

Dr KatieMy physiology class was human-based, yeah.

Chris NobleAre there any parallels that you can see from what you learned, I guess, in the human space and now you see with dogs as a vet?

Dr KatieI mean, I don't think that my one class was very detailed on a lot of that. But, yeah, I mean, there's so much that's similar. And we all wish that our dogs could have the same lifespan as us, for sure.

Cameron MainYeah, there's more and more research. Chris and I have been reading a lot about it recently into longevity in particularly and not just trying to have the longest life possible because sure, you can have a dog, maybe they make it to 18, but they've suffered for the last four to six years of their life. It's really about that quality of life.

Dr KatieAnd the health span matching the lifespan?

Cameron MainExactly, the health span. This, for us, was a huge part of the mission because, I mean, certainly I was lucky enough to have two of my retrievers out of the three live fairly good lives, but I could tell you for the last probably nine, even maybe nine months to a year, it wasn't... It wasn't the quality of life that they've had previously. So I guess, how can we help paired owners increase the health span and not just the lifespan?

Dr KatieYeah. That'd be really nice.

Chris NobleDo you have people coming in asking about longevity? Or how do I make my dog live longer? Or how do I make my dog the healthiest it can be?

Dr KatieI mean, people are always wanting to do whatever is best. And I really appreciate that the majority of the clients that are coming in are really looking to us for that knowledge of, you know, should we spay and neuter at this age or should we till longer? We, I think in general, just some of the studies that we have are difficult on any sort of the question that we get. It can be hard to know exactly what to do in so many different situations, but it's certainly easy to tell them, you know, taking like exercise and good diet and not too much and all of those things are really easy to make sure that they're doing.

Chris NobleWe were talking with Paige earlier about senior dogs and how you guys get a lot of senior dogs coming in. How does an owner have to look after the health of a senior dog?

Dr KatieYeah, I mean, a lot of things that we're worried about as dogs age is arthritis, because that mobility can really affect them. So that's one of the biggest things that most people are worried about. Depending on the breed, sometimes certain things happening that we can find on like blood work and things like that. But for the most part, it's really that arthritis that's the biggest problem as dogs age, if there's not another medical problem.

Chris NobleAnd how does that present? Because something that we're very conscious of and that we read in some studies is when your dog starts to present health issues, it's too late because the internal work or the internal damage has been done. What can we do to spot those signs early and make sure that we're looking after them in the best way?

Dr KatieWell, certainly larger breed dogs have more trouble because they're bigger. And being overweight is a huge part of it. So we're always trying to talk to people as early as possible about what they're doing and how much and extra treats and all of that because all of that extra weight really causes those issues. So doing that preventative stuff is really helpful. And then in general, if they're already coming to us for arthritis or some lameness, we're using a multi prompt approach with glucosamine, chondroitin. The fatty acids are really, really important with arthritis, the weight loss, the low impact exercise. All of those things really tie together.

Chris NobleI think that's a very common theme that we hear as well when we speak with dog owners, that the mobility and joint health is one of the main areas. We also hear quite a lot about allergies. Is that something that comes into the clinic?

Dr KatieOh, yeah. Yeah. That's a really big issue. I think, you know, our top two breeds right now are French Bulldogs and Labradors are still up there. And both of them have a lot of skin problems. So... Just always trying to make sure that we're doing well with flea control first and foremost. But the fatty acids, really good fatty acids, are really important with skin health also and many other nutrients.

Cameron MainYeah, that's one thing. It's a lot of feedback that we had. It's very, very interesting with time, actually. And we seem to get consistent feedback, depending on time frame, about when things are working. So what we had after, I think it was about six weeks, was a chewing pause was stopping.

Dr KatieWow.

Cameron MainYeah. And it was from we had it. It was very, very bizarre. And because and it seems to be we know who the first people who got their hands on the product were. And after that time, we had three or four messages within space of like two days saying, we've noticed pause like the corgi. One of the corgis was chewing less pause. And then another person said it. And then another one we were like. Oh my goodness. So it's really what we've put in here. We started to notice after certain markers, I think consistency with nutrition is something that's really, really important because it's not, hey, you can start this today and then tomorrow it's going to be better.

Dr KatieYeah. And I mean, do you guys have a thought? Is it one particular thing or do you think it's just all of these ingredients together?

Cameron MainI think, well, certainly the way that we designed it, there are around 20 individual benefits that you could pinpoint, whether it's cognitive function, eyesight, things like itching paws, general skin and coat. When we formulated, the request was, can we have something that covers whole body health for the dog? And that's every single function. And I remember the way that the nutritionist looked at us. He was like, you want to put all of that in here? And I said, yes, I want to put all of that in here. So we, I mean, this wasn't an overnight, let's just make a bag of powder. This was let's keep an oil because of the absorption levels are going to be better for these nutrients and not powderize them. All of that took 24 different attempts to formulate. So it's, yeah, it's a long process. But yeah, consistency is for sure the one thing. And it's hard to maybe say, every dog's different. So maybe one active ingredient is going to be more effective on, let's say, a German Shepherd. We know for sure, as you mentioned, the glucosamine inclusion. If you have a German Shepherd, that's going to be something that... If you give every single day over the life, the back legs are probably going to look better for a dog like that.

Dr KatieYeah. Well, in just the oil in general, we know affects so many different things. Like even in kidney disease, one of the things they suggest are really good fish oils. So it's funny how important all those things are.

Chris NobleYeah, we made sure the oil was in there with vitamin E as well to make sure that it's absorbed correctly. And then the tosopherols to make sure that it, again, gets absorbed correctly because there's vitamin E in there as well. But that's a really key ingredient to the mix. And that's why we kept it separate to the powder as well.

Cameron MainAnd you can actually put these into a powdered or you could have a claim, certainly, that it's powdered and in the bag. But the actual method of absorption is not even close to as effective. And for us, it's a lot of cost. And actually, it's a discussion we had many, many times is, oh, well, if you substitute this ingredient, it'll probably be cheaper for you. And we go, I don't even want to hear about the price until we finished making the right formulation. Then we'll talk about what it costs and how we move from there. So for us, and you can see it in the packaging, you can see it in the quality of the shaker, sure, but the quality of the actual product itself is what was of paramount importance. That had to be top of the line.

Chris NobleWe were just talking about some of the problems that dogs have when we cover mobility and allergies. There are some very distinct ones that come up when we speak with dog owners. And I think the most common thing that I hear is about digestive health. Tell us more about dogs that come in with digestive issues into the clinic.

Dr KatieWe have not only just dogs that come into the clinic, we have a lot of digestive issues with shelter animals, too. A lot can just be stress-related. But diet change or just thinking about my sister's golden retriever that gets into whatever out on this walk, you know. There's so many different things, depending on the dog, what can upset their stomach. Many dogs can only eat the same thing every day and only get very specific treats, or they can have vomiting, diarrhea, really severe forms of GI disease. Pancreatitis can be really bad, and that can be just getting into different things and stuff like that. The gut health, depending on the animal, when they're coming in, we're always really concentrating on probiotics and bland food and kind of getting them through that if it's nothing that we can pinpoint with a parasite or something like that.

Chris NobleThat makes sense. And then there's something interesting you just said there. If there's nothing, you can pinpoint. This is maybe going to be a long-winded question, but a lot of dogs kind of just don't seem to have a lot of vitality. And we know that's not normal. What do you look at when a dog is just a little bit down and doesn't have a lot of energy, but doesn't have any clearly presenting medical issues?

Dr KatieWell, we're trying to get as thorough a history as possible, and that includes diet and other supplements that they're giving, all those sort of things. Trying to run down all of those questions to figure out what is going on. It can be very frustrating for both us and the owner.

Chris NobleAnd the dog.

Dr KatieMm-hmm.

Cameron MainDo you see a bit of improvement generally once you improve the nutrition? I mean, I'm sure some cases when the dog comes in, you can see that it hasn't been eating properly. It must be very visible. Yeah. And do you just know by adding that like a complete diet that things are going to go much, much better from there?

Dr KatieYeah, I mean, really depending on what's going on, there are some people that just don't realize some of the things that they need or should be doing or how much or what. So, yeah, I'm running that down. I think that we're lucky where we're at that there is so much available versus, like, exotic animals they you know you can really struggle with some of the nutrition with them but I think it's really easy to get animals back on track or dogs back on track really quickly with an appropriate diet if that was if that is the main issue it doesn't have to be that difficult either No, no. But diets, that can be really confusing, too. For a while, we were having some diets that were deficient in nutrients that was causing heart problems with dogs. Um, so, you know, people were potentially spending a ton of money on a, on a special diet that they wanted for their animal. Again, they wanted to live a long time. They want them to do well. And, um, I know the creators of that food also wanted the same thing too. And it just was one of those things that we figured out over time that we needed to make sure that this ingredient was in the dog food.

Chris NobleWas this the grain free diets?

Dr KatieYeah, which there is grain-free diets out there that dogs can do well on. It's just one of those things that was not a fun thing to have to figure out.

Chris NobleI bet. It must have been very difficult. I mean, because owners trusted that the kibble they were giving their dogs was a complete diet and did have everything good inside it. But I guess these ones hadn't been fully clinically tested.

Dr KatieYeah, I mean, I think for someone like me, it's just crazy to think that people can exist for so long on very unbalanced diets and can live for a long time without any issues. But dogs, we know right away when there's any sort of issue or deficiency that can be problematic pretty quickly.

Cameron MainDo you see a lot of mistrust from people that have had bad experiences when they come to you for advice?

Dr KatieYeah. Anything around the diet can be a little bit of a point that is tricky with people. If we have a concern about something that they're feeding, we have to be very delicate with it because they're feeding that because they trust it and believe in it. So I'm just trying to make sure that we can get on the same page before potentially that they're dismissive of what we're saying.

Chris NobleCan you tell the difference or do you have some stories around what some of those examples are of doing all the right things versus being unsure and not doing the right things?

Dr KatieYou know, I think the people that are unsure sometimes are the people that are really willing to hear what you have to say, you know, because they don't know or they haven't been guided. And that's really nice to be able to use your knowledge and help them. I think that sometimes it depends on where other people are getting their advice, whether they want to hear what you're saying or not. So that's a little tricky.

Chris NobleDo you have examples of or does any case come to mind of someone who has come in and didn't or had a lot of questions and you maybe impacted their dog's health?

Dr KatieI've had dogs come in before that were not doing well. And the diet that they were feeding was an uncooked food that the animal was getting sick from. It just was not reputable where they were getting it. And there can be a lot of bad bacteria in some of those uncooked foods. So the dog was doing very poorly. And it took time to convince them that there was a better way to do it. And the dog was able to turn around with that, which was really nice. But yeah, it's difficult.

Chris NobleThat must be really rewarding.

Dr KatieYeah. Yeah, it is. Especially because at the end of it, when the dog is doing very well, there is that trust that's been built.

Cameron MainWould you think it's fair to say that a lot of problems which arise, especially later on in a dog's life, could be prevented from just having a richer nutrition from day one?

Dr KatieI would hope. I mean, that'd be nice if it could always be that way. You know, sometimes we're just battling the genetics of a breed, no matter what somebody potentially tries to do. But I think that... It certainly is a good thing to seek that out, right? If we have a choice between McDonald's and a healthy salad with some good protein and things like that, you have to realize that one of those is going to be a little bit better for you than the other. So I think that I wish that nutrition would cure everything and anything. That would be the best part of my job, if I could just tell people to switch to this one thing and their dog was going to have a long, healthy life for the rest. It is lots of different approaches. And I think that... Adding in or changing a diet to something that is a higher caliber definitely makes a lot of a difference when they're not getting a good diet, and especially when you have lots of other approaches that you're going about a healthy life.

Chris NobleYou mentioned genetics. Something I find fascinating is epigenetics. Have you seen any work done around epigenetics of dogs?

Dr KatieI haven't.

Chris NobleI haven't.

Dr KatieIs there any out there? Do you know?

Chris NobleIt's starting to be studied more, how different aspects of, a lot of it's diet focused, but how different variables can impact the epigenetics of a dog, because that can be changed. Epigenetics are not set in stone. Over time, you can really improve that, and that kind of battles, or it doesn't, take away from genetics but it's something that's not not set in stone so it's

Dr KatieWell you know we have um animals that we have come in here whether they're transferred in from an area that needs our help and you know we we see deficiencies in the puppies and they can have changes because of that and you know that that was really important when they were growing and trying to battle that part. I imagine it would be interesting to follow those kind of animals out too and just see the difference from the very beginning.

Chris NobleYeah, it's something that fascinates us in general. And there's a lot changing in dog health just now. And there's a lot of different approaches and people who are putting, I guess, a lot of investment into diagnostics and understanding a little bit more about how the dog's body operates and how we can optimize as much as possible. Is there something that you want to see one day in terms of a study? Um, I mean, I, I know that it can be so hard to do a really specific study, you know, and I mean, even nutrition in humans is really hard to study. I think that I'm just excited with any amount of money that's going in to potentially helping me help animals live longer. And, um, it's it's incredible how much we still need to know I find all the time too studies are really specific to a breed and trying to make sure that owners understand that that doesn't necessarily transfer to their their yorkie when it's been done on a rottweiler yes there's there's a lot of similarities you know but because of that genetics it's so different So it's hard for me to pick a specific example, but I would think that any study that's really going to push us really far forward. I mean, we used to just feed dogs scraps, you know, and now they have this balanced diet. We know all these different things that they need. So I think we're due for some really big changes. That would be nice.

Cameron MainIt feels like we're really on the brink of a big change, I think, in the whole industry. It feels like now, more than ever, everyone's starting to take it very seriously. Is that something that you can see from where you are and from how things are now compared to when you started?

Dr KatieWell, I mean, we talk about all the time how crazy it is, the changes that have happened with the dogs in our lives, you know, that it was an outside dog, you know. And when I was growing up, and now my dog very much has half of the bed or more. It's so different right and so because we're so much more invested in them and vice versa they're just a part of our lives um I think that all dog owners really want to to make sure that that's going as long as possible and that it's and that there there's the health component of it too not that they're just living till they're 30 that they're vibrant and healthy

Cameron MainWhen it comes to supplementation in general and I guess bridging the diet gap for different kinds of nutrients, is there a sort of go-to that you tend to recommend or is it very much on an individual basis for each dog?

Dr KatieWe have very specific ones that we're recommending based upon the research that's been done and... And the evidence showing that they're helping the animal. But even with any of the supplements that I recommend to my clients, I always tell them to use a journal, document what's going on. Watch and see the changes that you're seeing because I think that there's a lot of things out there that might be really great for one dog and then it's not for the other dog. So trying different things and seeing how they really work and not trying like 10 new things at once, like one thing at a time and just kind of seeing how it can make that difference.

Chris NobleThat's really interesting, tangible advice. What kind of things would you tell someone to journal about and look for in the dog?

Dr KatieWell, I would say if there is something that they're already concerned about, to be documenting that. I think that writing it down is so vital because you... Just documenting that time and when you started something and what you were seeing makes such a difference because a month or two later, you're like, wait, what was going? Oh, go back and look at a photo or a video. But yeah, if they're worried about a lameness and maybe let's say the dog always used to be able to go three miles and fine. And then all of a sudden it's not and they start something new. And then all of a sudden they're back at that three miles and they forget, oh, you know, without making those notes that there was a reason why they got there. And I think that's also important too, because if they're starting something new and it's helping, they want to make sure that they know that it was worth the money and that they should keep doing it.

Cameron MainSo I guess going back to being proactive rather than reactive, is that advice that you would give to dog owners when they're choosing their food as well, that you probably should add some sort of supplementation

Dr KatieYeah, I mean, I think that anything that's not going to be damaging is worth trying. I feel like when I'm recommending something that's not a medication, that I'm always using products that I know have never caused an issue. And so that's really nice that I can say, you know, we could try this medication that I know reduces inflammation or something, or we could try this. And if that works, then that's great. Then we don't have to worry about the liver, the kidney, you know, all these other things. So I really, I love to recommend things that, and a lot of our clients really appreciate that too. They don't want to be getting, giving a medication if they could maybe add a supplement in that's going to make the difference for their animal.

Cameron MainIt's great to take a more natural approach to health.

Dr KatieYeah.

Cameron MainA holistic approach is kind of the way that we tend to view our own health, including our dogs now as well. So I think you're very much aligned with that as well.

Dr KatieYeah.

Cameron MainSo, Dr. Katie, thank you so much for spending time with us and for educating us as well. It's been a privilege.

Dr KatieYeah, thank you. It was great. Thanks, guys.

Chris NobleThank you so much.

Cameron MainI want to see it. This is it, huh?

Transcript edited lightly for readability. Timestamps and captions will follow with the video release.