Pet Health Coach

Dr. Heather Oxford is a Los Angeles based holistic veterinarian who specializes in longevity medicine. We unpack how to help our pets live longer and a fascinating new supplement that stimulates the production of more NAD in a dog’s body. Why is that important? Because NAD supports:

➡️ Energy Production
➡️ DNA Repair
➡️ Cellular Signaling
➡️ Antioxidant Activity
➡️ Metabolic Regulation
➡️ Immune Function
➡️ Neurological Health

and your dog has a much better chance of having a longer, vibrant life with more of it. That is information worth knowing, and Dr. Heather is having great success with this product, especially in her senior dogs. Cat parents, yours will come soon! It’s not here yet.

Listen to Episode #31 Now:

BIO:

Dr. Heather Oxford received her Master's of Public Health in Epidemiology from Emory University in 2000 and worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Foodborne & Diarrheal Diseases Branch, and subsequently in the Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Branch while a veterinary student at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, where she received her DVM degree in 2005.  Upon completion of a small animal veterinary internship at California Animal Hospital in 2006, she practiced conventional small animal medicine in Los Angeles for 2 years before becoming certified in acupuncture at the Chi Institute, and rehabilitation medicine at the Canine Rehabilitation Institute in 2008.  Dr. Oxford has been integrating Western and Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine with Animal Rehabilitation to optimize pets' quality of life for over 16 years, and started her own mobile business treating pets in their homes in 2013.  She began researching longevity medicine in 2019 and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners in 2023.  Additionally, she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and Dutch Shepherd.   

Transcript:

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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets.

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Jody Teiche: One of the biggest regrets that we have as pet parents is that our animals just don't live long enough.

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Jody Teiche: We want them around as long as possible.

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Jody Teiche: So what if you knew about certain anti-aging modalities, supplements, techniques that could help your pet live a longer, healthier life?

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Jody Teiche: You're listening to The Pet Health Coach on Pet Life Radio, and I'm Jody Teiche, your host.

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Jody Teiche: Today, we're going to be speaking with pet longevity expert, Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather Oxford, and we're going to be talking about some really valuable information for us pet parents to help our pets live longer, healthier lives.

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Jody Teiche: But before we get going and you meet Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather, we're going to take a short break from our sponsor.

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Jody Teiche: So grab that healthy beverage, get comfortable, and we'll be right back.

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Announcer: You know the expression, cats have nine lives.

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Announcer: Well, what if you can give them one more?

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Announcer: The Give Them Ten Movement is on a mission to help give cats an extra life.

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Announcer: How?

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Announcer: With spay and neuter.

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Announcer: Spaying or neutering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life.

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Announcer: And it helps control free-roaming cat populations too.

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Announcer: Learn more about the benefits of spay and neuter and meet Scooter, the neutered cat, at givethemten.org.

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Announcer: That's givethem, T-E-N, dot org.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets on petliferadio.com.

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Announcer: Welcome back.

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Jody Teiche: You're listening to The Pet Health Coach on PetLife Radio, and I'm Jody Teiche, your host.

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Jody Teiche: So Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather Oxford is a Los Angeles-based holistic veterinarian, and she is a pet longevity expert, a pet longevity medicine expert.

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Jody Teiche: We cross paths around a longevity product that I found really exciting, which we're going to be talking about a little later on today.

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Jody Teiche: But we're going to be going through with Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather the science behind pet longevity medicine, the types of things that she's doing in her practice that are helping pet parents have healthier, longer living animals.

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Jody Teiche: And you're going to get some really, really important information about how you can help your pets, too.

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Jody Teiche: So welcome, Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather.

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Jody Teiche: I'm so happy to have you on the show.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Well, thank you so much, Jody.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Thank you for that wonderful introduction, too.

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Jody Teiche: My pleasure.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: It is such a pleasure to be here.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I am so excited to talk to you about such an amazing topic.

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Jody Teiche: Yang, you know, anti-aging, longevity, it's like such a big buzz topic the last couple of years.

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Jody Teiche: And while it's been focused mostly on humans and the different incredible technology and modalities and products that we have available to us today, what a lot of pet parents don't realize is that we have a lot of this for our pets, too, and that we share a lot or could share a lot with our pets.

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Jody Teiche: So I'm very excited to talk with you about this, but I want to sort of set up a little bit of context.

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Jody Teiche: So would you share your story about why you wanted to become a vet?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Well, from the time I was three years old, I believe, I wanted to be a vet.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I've just always had it in me.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And I think there are a lot of us out there like that.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: There was just nothing else.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so it's always been a passion of mine.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I've always been interested in medicine, I've always been an animal lover.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: But I actually started my career path in epidemiology.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So I got a master's in public health first.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Then I went to vet school and worked a little bit in general practice.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And before long, actually in just like two short years, I decided I want to get to the root of problems.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So then I got acupuncture certified and rehab certified.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Started doing mobile rehab and acupuncture for dogs, mostly dogs, some cats too, in about 2013.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So I've been doing this for a while now.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And then in 2019, really got hooked on longevity medicine and anti-aging science.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And I've just been digging as deep as I can since 2019, trying to keep up with the ever growing body of research in this field.

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Jody Teiche: Yeah.

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Jody Teiche: And boy, keep up is like a great description because it's moving fast and furious.

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Jody Teiche: Before we get like go deeper into this topic, I just have to say one thing because when I looked on your website and I saw you with, I think, your dog.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Yes, that's my dog.

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Jody Teiche: Your dog is the coolest looking animal.

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Jody Teiche: Like these rust colored eyes.

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Jody Teiche: And just beautiful.

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Jody Teiche: Is your dog a Dutch Shepherd?

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Jody Teiche: Yes.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Very good.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: It's not a very well-known breed, I think.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: But yeah, she's a Dutchie.

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Jody Teiche: Oh man.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: She's a cutie.

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Jody Teiche: Gorgeous.

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Jody Teiche: You're going to see a picture of Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather with this beautiful dog.

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Jody Teiche: What's her name?

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Jody Teiche: Anya.

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Jody Teiche: Anya.

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Jody Teiche: With Anya on the page of The Pet Health Coach, so you can see what we're talking about.

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Jody Teiche: But let's dive in now.

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Jody Teiche: You were trained conventionally as a vet.

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Jody Teiche: You decided to follow an integrative, more natural path to get to the root cause, which is a beautiful thing.

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Jody Teiche: You have several different protocols that you work with in helping animals.

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Jody Teiche: Can you tell us a little bit about what protocols you use?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah, so, you know, the majority of cases that I am called to see tend to be older dogs.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so the majority are going to have either arthritis or some form of like neurological decline or sometimes a combination of the two.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So that is really the type of patient that I see the most.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so I always want to do very, you know, condition-specific protocols first because my utmost concern is let's get this animal out of discomfort if they are in discomfort.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Let's get them functioning better if there's some level of dysfunction or immobility.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so I always start there.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So it's, you know, typically, you know, some joint supportives, antioxidants.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I always say to people, you cannot supplement your way out of a poor lifestyle.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So we have to go right down to the basics of, you know, what is this animal's like daily exercise routine?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: What is this animal's diet?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Those are my two biggest things that I have to go to first.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Because if I leave a dog on a stub optimal or really poor diet, there's not going to be that much I can do with supplements to get this animal feeling better.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So I have to start at the basics and then work my way up.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Once I feel like I've, you know, accomplished my goal in that specific condition, making that better, then I try to go for, okay, let's really focus on longevity now and let's try to get this dog's quality of life like thriving and excelling.

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Jody Teiche: Perfect.

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Jody Teiche: I love it.

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Jody Teiche: You also use, you know, wonderful, like tried and true techniques.

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Jody Teiche: And some of them are techniques that some pet parents don't know a lot about.

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Jody Teiche: You use acupuncture.

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Jody Teiche: Absolutely.

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Jody Teiche: You use laser therapy.

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Jody Teiche: I think more and more pet parents are aware of that.

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Jody Teiche: You use homeopathy, which I am a total geek for.

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Jody Teiche: An energy medicine geek.

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Jody Teiche: Which is beautiful.

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Jody Teiche: But you use something called homotoxicology that I bet most pet parents haven't heard of.

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Jody Teiche: Can you tell my audience a little bit more about what that is?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Oh, sure.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Well, it's trying to utilize, it's a concept in homeopathy of like effects, like.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so I will sometimes, for some patients who have maybe gone down the whole conventional route, and I typically will start with like, you know, my laser acupuncture, more typical supplements too.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And for some patients, they still need a little bit more.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so I will give them either an oral form, or sometimes even injectable form of some of these homeopathics that are going to help to just further blush out pain and inflammation and get these patients feeling a little bit better.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Sometimes I find that they just need some of that to help get them kind of over the threshold.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And then we can start to see some real results.

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Jody Teiche: Yeah, I think pet parents need to understand that a modality like homeopathy, as you said, like cures like, it actually, it's not doing something to the body.

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Jody Teiche: It's stimulating, when you get the remedy right, it's stimulating the body to heal itself, to start that healing process.

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Jody Teiche: But what I thought was super cool about the homotoxicology was that it focuses on the idea that toxins are at the root cause of conditions, illnesses and disease.

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Jody Teiche: And we know we live in like a toxic soup today, you know, and our babies, right?

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Jody Teiche: Our babies are four on the floor.

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Jody Teiche: So whatever it is on our floor or on the concrete or the grass, as well as what's in the air and food and water, you know, it's just we sometimes have to really flesh the body.

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Jody Teiche: That's why I love that you handle nutrition and lifestyle because it's the foundation of the house, right?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah, absolutely.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And as you said, you know, they can be kind of the canary in the coal mine.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: They can be sentinels for human health.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And many times they are.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: We see the symptoms occur in the pet much sooner than they occur in the human.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so many times, people have learned that they have been affected by mold, you know, or chemical exposures in the house through finding out, you know, something with the pet's health.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And this is also like kind of a touching upon the whole bigger concept of why dogs are such great models to study for the whole process of aging, really.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Everything happens faster in a dog's physiological system than in ours.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: You know, they've got compressed lifespans, unfortunately, compared to ours.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: That's the worst aspect of it.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: It's just not fair.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: But we're working on that.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So, you know, they live a shorter lifespan than us.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: They are exposed to almost all of the same lifestyle factors, including like those chemical exposures.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And foods that we're eating in the house.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Many times our dogs are eating the same ones.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And they also have the very similar standard of health care to us.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: They're like the perfect models.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: If you could pick a species, there's no better species than dogs to study, to learn about our own human aging.

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Jody Teiche: I love that.

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Jody Teiche: And what's so interesting, too, is we're so connected with them energetically.

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Jody Teiche: You know, they're so intuitive.

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Jody Teiche: They pick up so much from us.

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Jody Teiche: You know, we look to them for so much.

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Jody Teiche: So it's really interesting how sometimes with what you were saying about how looking at the trajectory of their health in their environment as a precursor to our health in that same environment with them, it's so interesting how sometimes we come down with the same types of things, right?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Absolutely.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I cannot tell you how many times I will see a dog and I can tell the person, all right, your dog has right-sided sciatica, that there's some sphincter iliac pain.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Usually before I even get that out, the client is saying, oh my gosh, that's the same thing I have.

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Jody Teiche: Yeah, it's crazy.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: It happens time after time and there is a connection.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I've done this too long to think that it's just coincidence anymore.

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Jody Teiche: Absolutely, not coincidence, but really, really interesting and crazy.

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Jody Teiche: So yeah, let's dive into anti-aging medicine.

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Jody Teiche: What do we know about longevity, some of the medical breakthroughs for our pets?

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Well, I would say not just for pets, but in the science.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: I mean, first of all, just in the past decade, there have been over 40,000 peer-reviewed published scientific articles in anti-aging per year.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: This is the fastest growing sector of research there is.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So it's growing by leaps and bounds.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Just since 2022 or 2023, the scientists have been able to add three new hallmarks of aging to our framework.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: How we understand aging.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So now there are 12 very predictable, basically pathophysiological markers that we can look at.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So that we as veterinarians and doctors can actually start to look at aging as a disease.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: It's a disease model that we can clearly see.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: There are things changing at the organelle and cellular level, right up through organ systems and the entire organism that are classic.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And there is a through line across mammalian systems where this is consistent.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So that has been really helpful in basically identifying targets for intervention for aging.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So we, you in Longevity Medicine, the whole premise is basically choosing safe and potentially effective compounds or molecules that can selectively target one or more of these 12 hallmarks of aging.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so I feel like it's, and they're not always supplements, like many of these things can be targeted by, as you said, like some of the modalities that I do and some of the modalities that people who are very interested in biohacking and longevity, they're already doing, like a lot of people are already doing infrared, you know, like saunas and cold plunges and, you know, acupuncture, ozone, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you know, so there are a lot of modalities that help with longevity in addition to lifestyle factors that you can, you know, just trying to control diet and exercise and, you know, hormones and some other things, and then supplements.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: But my biggest thing is as a veterinarian, I first and foremost want to do no harm, and that's, you know, the Hippocratic oath for doctors as well.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so we have to really be careful when we're looking at supplements and pharmaceuticals that are out there because this is such a huge market, $191 billion market.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: Wow.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So there are a lot of things out there, and we have to really, you know, stand for safety and efficacy, or we will basically fall for anything.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: So, you know, so I try to be very selective, and I don't want to ever oversupplement an animal or myself.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And, you know, I think most people want to do the same thing.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: They want to do the most effective thing and not overdo it.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And a lot still is unknown about Longevity Medicine.

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Dr. Heather Oxford: And so we definitely don't want to be harming ourselves in the long term in search for Longevity that would be counterproductive.

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Jody Teiche: Absolutely.

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Jody Teiche: And I think that's really sound, obviously.

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Jody Teiche: We're going to take a short break for our sponsor.

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Jody Teiche: But when we come back, we're going to talk about how we share and can share so much with our pets when it comes to things like anti-aging, cellular repair, health-inducing supplements, modalities.

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Jody Teiche: And we're going to talk about a supplement in particular, which is how I met Dr.

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Jody Teiche: Heather, that is super interesting, that stimulates something in the body that you may never even have heard of.

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Jody Teiche: So don't go away, refresh that beverage, healthy beverage, and we'll be right back.

00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.600
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00:18:37.300 --> 00:18:38.460
Announcer: Let's talk pets.

00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:39.360
Jody Teiche: Let's talk pets.

00:18:39.360 --> 00:18:40.420
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00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:41.720
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00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:43.900
Announcer: petliferadio.com.

00:18:52.820 --> 00:18:53.620
Jody Teiche: Welcome back.

00:18:53.620 --> 00:18:56.740
Jody Teiche: If you've just joined, we're here today with Dr.

00:18:56.740 --> 00:19:01.860
Jody Teiche: Heather Oxford, who is a pet longevity expert.

00:19:01.860 --> 00:19:06.680
Jody Teiche: She is a veterinarian and she is a holistic doctor.

00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:10.280
Jody Teiche: I want to talk a little bit more now, Dr.

00:19:10.280 --> 00:19:20.540
Jody Teiche: Heather, about some of the things that I have been seeing more and more over the years as a pet health coach and an energy medicine practitioner.

00:19:20.540 --> 00:19:46.020
Jody Teiche: In terms of modalities that we share more and more now with our pets, that are healing, stimulating the body to heal, supplements that who knew that we can share all these things that we're learning or we already know are great as anti-inflammatories and immune system boosters for ourselves that we can share with our pets.

00:19:46.020 --> 00:19:54.240
Jody Teiche: Let's talk a little bit about what you've been seeing with this in modalities as well as in supplements.

00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:56.720
Jody Teiche: And then we'll get into the supplement that we can do.

00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:57.820
Dr. Heather Oxford: The supplement, right?

00:19:57.820 --> 00:19:58.400
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yes.

00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:59.040
Dr. Heather Oxford: Okay.

00:19:59.040 --> 00:20:08.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: So even before I started doing longevity medicine and learning about that research, I was already doing the modalities and lifestyle factors.

00:20:08.820 --> 00:20:21.220
Dr. Heather Oxford: So basically, diet, though, starting with like, I feel like diet, maybe it depends on the day, whether I'm going to say diet is more important than exercise.

00:20:21.220 --> 00:20:25.940
Dr. Heather Oxford: These two are neck and neck in my mind, as far as like importance for longevity.

00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:27.580
Dr. Heather Oxford: And they are baseline.

00:20:27.580 --> 00:20:36.460
Dr. Heather Oxford: So I start with diet and I want a pet to have really good quality, but also we need to look at quantity of diet.

00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:47.240
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so the biggest factors that affect longevity are knowing your ingredients are good quality, knowing that it's not an ultra-processed food.

00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:58.820
Dr. Heather Oxford: So if you are looking at a processed food, you're going to see on the ingredient list a lot of big words, you can't pronounce, you've never heard of them before.

00:20:58.820 --> 00:21:07.700
Dr. Heather Oxford: That should be a red flag that you're probably looking at an ultra-processed food, which is the equivalent of like us eating Cheetos or something, like McDonald's every day.

00:21:07.700 --> 00:21:09.760
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yes, McDonald's every day.

00:21:09.760 --> 00:21:13.780
Dr. Heather Oxford: Then you think about variety and robustness of the diet.

00:21:13.780 --> 00:21:22.760
Dr. Heather Oxford: Again, if we ate the same thing every single meal, every day of our lives, we would not be doing very well in a fairly short amount of time.

00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:30.180
Dr. Heather Oxford: So same thing holds true for our dogs, although they are really good at fighting any illness.

00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:39.000
Dr. Heather Oxford: One of my colleagues has said, our patients are hardwired to lie to us about their health, and this is true.

00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:40.780
Dr. Heather Oxford: They will not lie to us about anything else.

00:21:40.780 --> 00:21:49.660
Dr. Heather Oxford: They are loving, they are loyal, but in nature, if you're looking sick or weak, you're going to get killed.

00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.520
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yes.

00:21:53.520 --> 00:21:59.000
Dr. Heather Oxford: A lot of times we don't know until it's a little bit further down the line, if they're not feeling well.

00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:18.380
Dr. Heather Oxford: If you are able to provide a whole food diet that is balanced, there are so many companies out there that are making good quality foods that are real food and lightly cooked or raw, depends on your pet, which one is the right one, but lots of good choices that are balanced.

00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:24.460
Dr. Heather Oxford: You can home cook, but you just have to make sure you're balancing it so that they're getting all the essential vitamins and minerals.

00:22:24.460 --> 00:22:26.700
Dr. Heather Oxford: There are resources available to do that.

00:22:26.700 --> 00:22:37.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: Also, you have to make sure that your pet is getting the right quantity, food is not love, we do not want to be contributing to this obesity epidemic, right?

00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:38.240
Jody Teiche: Yes.

00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:45.740
Dr. Heather Oxford: Which is going to cause your dog to develop arthritis even sooner or cat to develop arthritis even sooner and other endocrine disorders.

00:22:46.320 --> 00:22:46.640
Jody Teiche: Yes.

00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:54.520
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so we can do that by just making sure that the calories are a little restricted or intermittent fasting, just like us.

00:22:54.520 --> 00:23:03.000
Dr. Heather Oxford: The Dog Aging Project has been a fascinating resource for a lot of this, the lifestyle research.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:17.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: And they have found that once daily feeding is actually very protective for cognitive health in dogs, based that off of, I think, over 11,000 dogs in that study that they looked at.

00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:30.800
Dr. Heather Oxford: They also looked at the intermittent fasting model, and it was protective against gastrointestinal, hepatic, pancreatic, endocrine, a whole host of diseases.

00:23:30.800 --> 00:23:34.200
Dr. Heather Oxford: And that was like based off of 24,000 dogs.

00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:35.660
Dr. Heather Oxford: So these are really good.

00:23:35.660 --> 00:23:36.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's good data.

00:23:36.840 --> 00:23:39.600
Dr. Heather Oxford: So intermittent fasting is a really good way to feed.

00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:45.700
Dr. Heather Oxford: Just, you know, a single day, I want to add, we don't need to do this to our puppies or kittens.

00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:56.520
Dr. Heather Oxford: They are too young for intermittent fasting, but once they've hit skeletal maturity, they should be okay to be intermittent fasted as long as they don't have some kind of a condition that would limit that.

00:23:56.520 --> 00:24:02.340
Dr. Heather Oxford: And then I also have been using infrared laser and acupuncture.

00:24:02.340 --> 00:24:08.260
Dr. Heather Oxford: So the infrared laser, and this is very similar to, you know, an infrared sauna.

00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:16.020
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's actually really helping with one of the biggest hallmarks of aging, which is mitochondrial dysfunction.

00:24:16.020 --> 00:24:19.320
Dr. Heather Oxford: And I think many people have heard of this term throughout COVID.

00:24:19.320 --> 00:24:26.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's been one of the major factors that has made COVID more severe in people over 60.

00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:41.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's mitochondrial dysfunction that contributes to those cytokine storms and inflammation that has occurred with COVID, making it more a higher mortality risk for people over 60.

00:24:41.560 --> 00:24:52.740
Dr. Heather Oxford: So infrared really helps to prevent mitochondrial dysfunction and stimulate the mitochondria to produce more cellular energy.

00:24:52.740 --> 00:25:01.800
Dr. Heather Oxford: Really just, I mean, helps with muscle preservation and increased nitric oxide production, so it's anti-inflammatory.

00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:17.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: So many, many benefits of infrared, in addition to the anti-inflammatory effects that rehabbers have been using it for for so many years now, but we just didn't know that it had all these pro-longevity effects as well until more recently.

00:25:17.840 --> 00:25:21.520
Dr. Heather Oxford: Acupuncture, so helpful for inflammation.

00:25:21.520 --> 00:25:28.000
Dr. Heather Oxford: It actually will help really suppress the initial inflammation that occurs with infection.

00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:32.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: So it'll help to kind of control the innate immune system.

00:25:32.060 --> 00:25:35.460
Dr. Heather Oxford: And then it will help to boost the adaptive immune system.

00:25:35.460 --> 00:25:45.860
Dr. Heather Oxford: So we can really see a balancing out of the two arms of our immune system, just through an ancient technique that's been around for 2000 years.

00:25:45.860 --> 00:25:55.860
Dr. Heather Oxford: And now we finally understand how it's actually helping, not only to help when we're sick, but also to keep us thriving even longer.

00:25:56.360 --> 00:25:59.340
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so those are the main modalities.

00:25:59.340 --> 00:26:03.340
Dr. Heather Oxford: And then also I try to incorporate exercise.

00:26:03.340 --> 00:26:12.040
Dr. Heather Oxford: So just like for us, I think everybody tries to do a little bit of cardio and a little bit of strength training.

00:26:12.040 --> 00:26:27.860
Dr. Heather Oxford: Those are like the two key aspects of exercise that are gonna help you prevent frailty, which is that aging related muscle loss and bone density loss that can really wreak havoc on us as we get older.

00:26:27.860 --> 00:26:35.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so for dogs, it's so important that we try to key in on doing a little bit of endurance or cardio.

00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:37.980
Dr. Heather Oxford: And that's like walking or trotting.

00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:44.620
Dr. Heather Oxford: And that's with regularity throughout the week, maybe five days a week of doing a 20 minute walk.

00:26:44.620 --> 00:26:48.980
Dr. Heather Oxford: But my patients especially, I've got to really tailor that to their needs.

00:26:49.340 --> 00:26:56.320
Dr. Heather Oxford: I'm not going to send a 15 year old dog who has severe arthritis out on a 20 minute walk.

00:26:56.320 --> 00:27:00.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: Instead I'm going to start with five minute walks three times a day.

00:27:00.840 --> 00:27:02.420
Dr. Heather Oxford: I just want that dog moving.

00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:09.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: The more movement we can introduce into the body, the less pain that pet is going to perceive, the more circulation they're going to get.

00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:21.620
Dr. Heather Oxford: They're going to start to feel the effects and it's going to be able to build on itself instead of fatiguing that pet and sending it into more pain if we tried to do too long of a walk too soon and then some strength training.

00:27:21.620 --> 00:27:27.260
Dr. Heather Oxford: Actually dog interaction like doggy playdates are actually strength training.

00:27:27.260 --> 00:27:28.420
Dr. Heather Oxford: They're going to be tugging.

00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:30.960
Dr. Heather Oxford: They're going to be jumping around a little bit.

00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:33.800
Dr. Heather Oxford: Those kinds of activities are strengthening.

00:27:33.800 --> 00:27:35.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: Sprinting is strengthening.

00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:43.760
Dr. Heather Oxford: So there are many different ways that you can integrate aspects of exercise into your pet's life.

00:27:43.760 --> 00:27:47.620
Dr. Heather Oxford: The really cool thing is for us dog owners and some cat owners too.

00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:54.300
Dr. Heather Oxford: When we try to exercise our pets, we're getting the benefit as well for ourselves.

00:27:54.300 --> 00:27:55.760
Jody Teiche: That is so true.

00:27:55.760 --> 00:27:56.740
Jody Teiche: It's helpful.

00:27:56.740 --> 00:27:57.100
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah.

00:27:57.120 --> 00:27:58.160
Jody Teiche: Absolutely.

00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.120
Jody Teiche: Thank you so much for sharing all of that, Dr.

00:28:00.120 --> 00:28:00.820
Jody Teiche: Heather.

00:28:00.820 --> 00:28:17.600
Jody Teiche: I also think that, you know, things you mentioned earlier, like ozone therapy, we share with them, could be very powerful in tackling and addressing infection, parasites, you know, all that kind of thing, right?

00:28:18.020 --> 00:28:30.280
Jody Teiche: So, and then things like quercetin or curcumin or medicinal mushrooms, you know, comp, you know, compilations.

00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:47.880
Jody Teiche: These are just a small handful of the many things that we're able to share with our pets, which brings us into something that I just learned about recently, which is NAD, production in the body.

00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:56.060
Jody Teiche: Can you explain what NAD is, what it does for us in the body, what it does for our pets in the body?

00:28:56.060 --> 00:28:58.860
Jody Teiche: And then let's talk a little bit about leap years.

00:28:58.900 --> 00:29:12.360
Dr. Heather Oxford: So NAD is, I consider it kind of the fundamental molecule for longevity, but for our cells, it is the absolute fundamental fuel.

00:29:12.360 --> 00:29:19.100
Dr. Heather Oxford: So it is what's produced in our cells, and it is what fuels our cells.

00:29:19.100 --> 00:29:22.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: And without it, our cells die within seconds.

00:29:22.840 --> 00:29:26.600
Dr. Heather Oxford: So it is crucially essential for our cellular health.

00:29:27.220 --> 00:29:34.940
Dr. Heather Oxford: Now, the interesting thing about NAD is that as we age, our NAD levels naturally start to decline.

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:42.920
Dr. Heather Oxford: NAD is something that can be increased with fasting, diets, and also exercise.

00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:49.400
Dr. Heather Oxford: But over time, our cells start to lose the amount of NAD that they have.

00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:54.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: A lot of that loss is due to inflammation, which we know is one of the hallmarks of aging.

00:29:54.940 --> 00:30:02.260
Dr. Heather Oxford: And probably, we're not getting enough exercise, and we're not fasting ourselves enough to really keep driving those levels up.

00:30:02.260 --> 00:30:10.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: So, our NAD levels are declining as we age, and this really just sets us up for not great stuff happening.

00:30:11.360 --> 00:30:21.880
Dr. Heather Oxford: If we're trying to do the same amount with our body, but with less fuel and with more inflammation and more mitochondrial dysfunction, it's not an ideal situation.

00:30:22.300 --> 00:30:35.200
Dr. Heather Oxford: NAD is, for longevity purposes, it's triggering sirtuins, which are these proteins that David Sinclair has done a lot of research in at the Harvard Lab.

00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:39.500
Dr. Heather Oxford: And these are what are really making our DNA repairs.

00:30:39.500 --> 00:30:50.080
Dr. Heather Oxford: So, you can see if you don't have as much fuel triggering these guys to repair DNA, you're going to get a lot more DNA damage as you continue to age and further decline.

00:30:50.580 --> 00:30:52.240
Dr. Heather Oxford: Same things happening in our pet.

00:30:52.240 --> 00:31:00.860
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so, the really nice thing about leap years is that it has an NAD precursor in it.

00:31:00.860 --> 00:31:03.120
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so, well, let me back up one second.

00:31:03.120 --> 00:31:17.340
Dr. Heather Oxford: So NAD, it's a great molecule, but we can't feed it to ourselves and get it into ourselves because it is too large of a molecule to be absorbed in our stomach and our intestines.

00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:25.940
Dr. Heather Oxford: So what we have to do if we want to take it orally is we take precursors or building blocks or NAD.

00:31:25.940 --> 00:31:30.160
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so leap years has one of those building blocks in it.

00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:43.080
Dr. Heather Oxford: And leap years product not only has the NAD building block in it, but it also has a senolytic in it, which another one of the hallmarks of aging is cellular senescence.

00:31:43.580 --> 00:31:49.980
Dr. Heather Oxford: And this is many people have maybe heard or read about the zombie cells that are in us as we age.

00:31:49.980 --> 00:31:54.180
Dr. Heather Oxford: And these are basically the senescent cells or cells that have gone to sleep.

00:31:54.180 --> 00:31:59.160
Dr. Heather Oxford: They've kind of lost their ability to provide really good effects for our body.

00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:05.380
Dr. Heather Oxford: They've started to over accumulate because our aging body is getting less good at cleaning those out.

00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:16.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so when we have an accumulation of these senescent cells, they can kind of turn into zombies, which then start viewing out a lot of toxic inflammatory agents.

00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:26.120
Dr. Heather Oxford: And so a senolytic is a product that will actually induce zombie cell death.

00:32:26.120 --> 00:32:44.100
Dr. Heather Oxford: So the leap years has not only the NAD building block in it, but it also has a senolytic in it so that each month, you are giving your dog a couple of doses of this senolytic that is going to wipe out or clean out your zombie cells.

00:32:44.100 --> 00:32:55.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: So there's going to be less baseline inflammation and less inflammation to drive down your NAD levels, allowing the NAD building block that's in the leap years to work even better.

00:32:55.560 --> 00:32:57.900
Jody Teiche: That is amazing.

00:32:57.980 --> 00:33:21.960
Jody Teiche: So just so people who like to go a little bit deeper understand, when you talk about building blocks, and this is so important because even for us, everyone, there are products on the shelves of health food stores and supplement stores that are NAD products.

00:33:22.840 --> 00:33:37.340
Jody Teiche: And many people don't realize that taking NAD is not really going to do a whole lot for you, for that very reason that you explained, the molecule is too big and that we need precursors.

00:33:37.340 --> 00:33:40.300
Jody Teiche: I don't know if in this case it's MNM.

00:33:40.300 --> 00:33:44.540
Jody Teiche: Is that one of the precursors in there in leap years or is it another precursor?

00:33:44.540 --> 00:33:46.040
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's proprietary.

00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:46.740
Jody Teiche: Got you.

00:33:46.800 --> 00:33:48.440
Jody Teiche: Okay.

00:33:48.440 --> 00:34:05.600
Jody Teiche: But the important thing is to do your research because sometimes you're buying something that getting the impression that it's putting more of something in the body when in fact, scientifically, biologically, it can't.

00:34:05.600 --> 00:34:12.300
Jody Teiche: That what you really need is something to stimulate the production of that in your own body or in your pet's own body.

00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:31.120
Jody Teiche: And so that's what I love about leap years and the senescent aspect is really wonderful because any help that our pets can get, especially as they age, with cleaning up those cells that are just, they really shouldn't be around anymore.

00:34:31.120 --> 00:34:33.740
Jody Teiche: They've served their purpose.

00:34:33.740 --> 00:34:38.040
Jody Teiche: They're sleeping, they're misshapen, they're, you know, we don't want more toxins in the body.

00:34:38.040 --> 00:34:39.700
Jody Teiche: That's fantastic.

00:34:39.700 --> 00:34:43.340
Jody Teiche: So, yeah, I think this is such a really wonderful and interesting product.

00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:52.900
Jody Teiche: And it's the very first product that I have heard about, that stimulates the production of NAD in the body, which also helps create energy in us.

00:34:52.900 --> 00:34:56.960
Jody Teiche: So I would imagine it helps create more energy in our pets as well.

00:34:56.960 --> 00:34:57.580
Jody Teiche: Yeah?

00:34:57.580 --> 00:34:59.400
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

00:34:59.400 --> 00:34:59.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah.

00:34:59.680 --> 00:35:06.400
Dr. Heather Oxford: So I just want to say they did, you know, pharmacokinetic studies on their precursor and their senolytics.

00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:10.420
Dr. Heather Oxford: So they know it is bioavailable in dogs.

00:35:10.940 --> 00:35:17.500
Dr. Heather Oxford: And it's, you know, equivalent to bioavailability of precursors that we consider successful for humans.

00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:19.460
Dr. Heather Oxford: So they've done their research.

00:35:19.460 --> 00:35:20.680
Dr. Heather Oxford: We know it is safe.

00:35:20.680 --> 00:35:22.280
Dr. Heather Oxford: We know it is effective.

00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:32.420
Dr. Heather Oxford: And then once they knew it was safe and effective, they put it through a placebo controlled trial, double blind at NC State for 90 days.

00:35:32.420 --> 00:35:34.660
Dr. Heather Oxford: And it included 65 dogs.

00:35:34.660 --> 00:35:39.480
Dr. Heather Oxford: And they found really good results with not only, you know, activity.

00:35:39.760 --> 00:35:44.900
Dr. Heather Oxford: So, I think they found that activity level in dogs roughly doubled, I believe.

00:35:44.900 --> 00:35:47.800
Dr. Heather Oxford: And I see that every day when I use it in my patients.

00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:56.140
Dr. Heather Oxford: I see their energy level just really start to improve sometimes within just about 10 days of starting the product.

00:35:56.140 --> 00:36:02.300
Dr. Heather Oxford: I mean, it's one of the fastest responses I've seen in any supplement I've started.

00:36:02.300 --> 00:36:06.160
Dr. Heather Oxford: But also, it really helps cognitive function.

00:36:06.540 --> 00:36:31.760
Dr. Heather Oxford: And in this population of animals, like this older population, it not only stabilizes cognitive function, but I've seen in many of my older patients who have maybe developed a little, I'm going to consider it a little dementia, maybe not complete cognitive dysfunction yet, but just a little disorientation sometimes, maybe some anxiety that never used to be there.

00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:40.740
Dr. Heather Oxford: I'm seeing even these effects starting to improve and sometimes even resolve, and that is another finding from the study that they did.

00:36:40.740 --> 00:36:44.240
Dr. Heather Oxford: They did find that that was consistent across their 65 dogs.

00:36:44.240 --> 00:36:49.120
Dr. Heather Oxford: So I think this product is really wonderful.

00:36:49.120 --> 00:36:53.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: I really like it for most every one of my patients.

00:36:55.200 --> 00:37:07.840
Dr. Heather Oxford: If I see them at middle age, I start them at about middle age, but I see it most effectively and most pronounced effects in my oldest patient that I started on.

00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:09.880
Dr. Heather Oxford: So it's just profound.

00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:22.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: There's just not any supplements prior to leap years that has such a almost universal effect on my oldest patients.

00:37:22.060 --> 00:37:30.480
Dr. Heather Oxford: And really the one thing that I absolutely love about it is that I have not yet seen side effects from it in any of my patients.

00:37:30.680 --> 00:37:33.340
Dr. Heather Oxford: I haven't seen any gastrointestinal upset.

00:37:33.340 --> 00:37:40.120
Dr. Heather Oxford: And I've even had a couple of patients who have gotten into the jar and eaten like half the tub.

00:37:40.120 --> 00:37:43.620
Dr. Heather Oxford: And it seems to not have any negative side effects.

00:37:43.620 --> 00:37:48.800
Dr. Heather Oxford: I also am seeing that older dogs that have stopped like eating breakfast.

00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:56.480
Dr. Heather Oxford: This is a really common complaint in older dogs is that they'll not have any appetite in the morning and they'll only eat like in the evening.

00:37:56.480 --> 00:38:02.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: Within a few days of starting leap years, I've seen a lot of these patients even get their appetite back for breakfast.

00:38:02.060 --> 00:38:07.040
Dr. Heather Oxford: So it's just these things that I wouldn't even anticipate happening, happening.

00:38:07.040 --> 00:38:10.540
Dr. Heather Oxford: And then of course, I see them live longer and stronger.

00:38:10.540 --> 00:38:15.380
Dr. Heather Oxford: And to the stronger point, I had a 17 year old Maltese on this.

00:38:15.380 --> 00:38:23.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: And I had been treating this dog for years, measuring limb circumferences, trying, you know, just monitoring muscle atrophy.

00:38:24.080 --> 00:38:30.920
Dr. Heather Oxford: And after two months of being on leap years, he actually started to grow muscle.

00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:31.180
Jody Teiche: Wow.

00:38:31.180 --> 00:38:32.240
Jody Teiche: So, yeah.

00:38:32.240 --> 00:38:34.220
Jody Teiche: Like you get muscle mass type of muscle?

00:38:34.220 --> 00:38:34.480
Jody Teiche: Yes, yes.

00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.140
Jody Teiche: Like we all over aging want more of?

00:38:37.140 --> 00:38:39.300
Jody Teiche: That is very exciting.

00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:48.340
Jody Teiche: And I mean, it seems like leap years targets the most common issues that pet parents face with aging pets.

00:38:48.340 --> 00:38:57.440
Jody Teiche: So, you know, the mobility, the cognitive decline issues which are heart breaking to witness.

00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:05.820
Jody Teiche: And oftentimes, you know, pet parents are putting their animals, their dogs on pharmaceuticals that always has fallout.

00:39:05.820 --> 00:39:16.920
Jody Teiche: So this is very, very exciting to hear that we now have a product that is showing such success in these really targeted issues for seniors.

00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:35.060
Jody Teiche: And I love that you mentioned starting them in middle age because to me, you can start them early enough to keep the hum of the body engine running smoothly and efficiently and to make sure that they age well.

00:39:35.060 --> 00:39:36.800
Jody Teiche: So I think that's amazing.

00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:38.660
Jody Teiche: Where can people get this?

00:39:38.660 --> 00:39:40.960
Dr. Heather Oxford: Oh, LeapYers, leapyers.com.

00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:43.920
Dr. Heather Oxford: Okay, so they're direct to consumer.

00:39:43.920 --> 00:39:46.880
Dr. Heather Oxford: I think they do sell to veterinarians.

00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:50.560
Dr. Heather Oxford: So a lot of vets have it stocked in their clinics.

00:39:50.560 --> 00:39:53.220
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah, so you can get it however you want to.

00:39:53.220 --> 00:39:54.320
Jody Teiche: That's perfect.

00:39:54.320 --> 00:40:05.960
Jody Teiche: And before we end, because we're coming up to the end of the show, are you still a concierge vet where you go to your clients' homes?

00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:07.840
Jody Teiche: Or do you see them in practice?

00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:09.500
Jody Teiche: Do you only do it that way?

00:40:09.500 --> 00:40:11.400
Jody Teiche: Do you see clients online?

00:40:11.400 --> 00:40:13.260
Jody Teiche: Is it really limited to Los Angeles?

00:40:13.260 --> 00:40:14.060
Jody Teiche: How does it work for you?

00:40:14.180 --> 00:40:24.700
Dr. Heather Oxford: So, yeah, so I don't do the conventional services, but I do acupuncture and rehab exclusively in the homes.

00:40:24.700 --> 00:40:25.120
Dr. Heather Oxford: Yeah.

00:40:25.120 --> 00:40:25.760
Jody Teiche: Got it.

00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:26.520
Jody Teiche: OK, perfect.

00:40:26.520 --> 00:40:30.740
Jody Teiche: So if you are in the Los Angeles area, then Dr.

00:40:30.740 --> 00:40:39.100
Jody Teiche: Heather Oxford would be a great choice to reach out to if you have issues with your pet that her modalities can help.

00:40:39.100 --> 00:40:41.900
Jody Teiche: Thank you so much for being with us today.

00:40:42.580 --> 00:40:55.440
Jody Teiche: I think that you shared some really important information and introduced my audience to something that they probably never heard of and that is truly a cutting edge product for our pets.

00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:58.860
Jody Teiche: Is this only for dogs or can cats take this too?

00:40:58.860 --> 00:41:00.280
Dr. Heather Oxford: It's only for dogs.

00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:05.020
Dr. Heather Oxford: They have been talking to the company and they said they're working on cats.

00:41:05.020 --> 00:41:05.320
Jody Teiche: OK, good.

00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:07.160
Dr. Heather Oxford: Hopefully that will be soon.

00:41:07.220 --> 00:41:07.860
Jody Teiche: Good.

00:41:07.860 --> 00:41:08.200
Jody Teiche: Yeah.

00:41:08.200 --> 00:41:13.180
Jody Teiche: As cat parents are saying, come on, you know, don't forget us.

00:41:14.600 --> 00:41:16.000
Dr. Heather Oxford: Cats too.

00:41:16.020 --> 00:41:17.060
Dr. Heather Oxford: I know.

00:41:17.060 --> 00:41:17.520
Jody Teiche: All right.

00:41:17.520 --> 00:41:22.560
Jody Teiche: Well, we'll have to stay tuned about that and I'll keep you guys posted as well about that.

00:41:22.560 --> 00:41:23.760
Jody Teiche: Thank you so much, Dr.

00:41:23.760 --> 00:41:24.040
Jody Teiche: Heather.

00:41:24.040 --> 00:41:26.200
Jody Teiche: I really appreciate your time today.

00:41:26.200 --> 00:41:27.320
Dr. Heather Oxford: Thank you so much, Jody.

00:41:27.320 --> 00:41:28.220
Dr. Heather Oxford: This was a pleasure.

00:41:28.220 --> 00:41:28.840
Jody Teiche: I'm glad.

00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:30.820
Jody Teiche: And thank you all for listening.

00:41:30.820 --> 00:41:41.080
Jody Teiche: As a certified health coach for people and pets, my mission is to share holistic healing information for the whole family to create vibrant health.

00:41:41.080 --> 00:41:51.260
Jody Teiche: So tune in next time for the expert interviews, the tips to give the animals we love the longest and most vibrant life we can.

00:41:51.260 --> 00:41:56.800
Jody Teiche: I'm Jody Teiche, and you're listening to The Pet Health Coach.

00:41:56.800 --> 00:42:02.820
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