Nov. 9, 2025

Learning Pet Nutrition Science: How Four Cats Taught This Couple Everything About Pet Food

Learning Pet Nutrition Science may be easier than you realize. In this episode, I sit down with Holly Baer from Superior Feline to explore the world of homemade pet nutrition. Holly's journey began when her own cats faced serious health challenges—kidney disease, fish allergies, and inflammatory conditions that commercial foods couldn't address. What started as a desperate search for solutions became a mission to help cat parents everywhere take control of their pets' nutrition.

From Crisis to Solution

Holly's husband, a microbiologist, dove deep into research when their beloved cat Coconut developed kidney disease. What they discovered changed everything about how they approached feline nutrition. But Superior Feline goes beyond just food mixes. They've developed a complete system including omega-3 oils (both fish and plant-based options), postbiotics for gut health, and liver powder toppers for picky eaters.

What you'll learn in this episode:

How to transition from commercial to homemade cat food safely
The difference between probiotics and postbiotics for feline health
Solutions for cats with allergies, kidney disease, and digestive issues
Tips for dealing with picky eaters and multiple cats with different preferences

Husband and Wife team, Eric and Holly Baer, founded Superior Feline because of the positive, physical results they saw from making homemade cat food for their two cats, Coconut and Luna Belle, who had health issues. They started Superior Feline with the main goal of providing quality, science-based, affordable products that aren't built around marketing, but around the true pursuit of real results and long-term health for fur family. Follow Superior Feline on Facebook or Instagram.

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Loved this episode? Leave a review and rating here

00:00 - Meet Holly And CatCon Highlights

02:20 - Adoption Wins And The Power Of Cat Community

03:07 - Early Pet Stories And Finding “Cat People”

05:46 - Meet The Four Cats And Their Personalities

08:15 - The Health Crises That Sparked A Business

11:20 - Building A Species-Appropriate Cat Diet

14:35 - Product Line, Toppers, And Customer Feedback

17:45 - How To Start: Trials, Oils, And Prep Methods

21:10 - Cost, Batch Cooking, And Safety Tips

24:00 - Skin, Allergies, And The Postbiotic Advantage

27:10 - Cats And Dogs: What Transfers, What Doesn’t

30:15 - Discount, How To Choose, And Support

33:00 - Closing Thanks And Listener CTAs

WEBVTT

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Hello, my friends and fellow animal lovers.

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Welcome to a brand new episode of the Story of My Pet Podcast.

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I am your host, Julie Marty Pearson, as always, and I am happy to welcome a new guest to the podcast.

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Hi, Holly.

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Thank you for being here.

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Hey Julie, thanks for having me on.

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So we're definitely gonna be talking all things cats today.

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We are two fellow cat ladies, cat moms.

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You got it for sure.

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So I met Holly.

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We were both at CatCon this year.

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Holly and her company, Superior Feline, what had a booth, and she was one of the companies I met there and really loved what they're doing with their company to help our pets and our cats.

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And so we connected, and now she's here to share more about her business and her fur family and all of those things.

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So how was CatCon for you and your business?

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Was that a good experience?

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Yeah.

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So that was our fourth year of CatCons.

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We started in 2022 and have done it every year since then.

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But yeah, every year it just keeps getting better and better.

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It's a great event, and there's so many wonderful people.

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We get to meet great people like you and a whole bunch of you know cat loving people, which is always great.

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But yeah, it's a wonderful event.

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I really enjoyed it.

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I think I was a little shocked when I first got there.

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Whoa, this is massive.

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I had gone many years ago when it was not that massive, and I don't think I was prepared for the volume of people and the volume of boosts, but I guess it just goes to show how much cat people love our cats and love kind of connecting with our love of cats.

00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:00.879
Right.

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Yeah, it's true.

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It's something else.

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And it's awesome that they have speakers and then they have a whole adoption area.

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I think they adopted out all of the cats this year, which is amazing.

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So it's nice to be able to support an event that encompasses everything about cats and the different ways that, you know, we're able to bring them into our lives, which is cool.

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Yeah, that it's so true because I think when I try to explain cat con to people, they don't totally understand it.

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I always say Comic Con for cat lovers, which is kind of what it is, because people are dressed up as cats and all of that.

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And there are probably hundreds of booths for different types of companies and organizations.

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But like you said, they also had speakers that were talking about educational topics and advocacy, and Pasadena Humane was there with a ton of cats and kittens.

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The second day I know they had 200 there, and before the day was over, they had adopted them all out.

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So nothing is better than that.

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I've been to plenty of adoption events where it's they're not adopting out.

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So that is an it was an amazing event, and it was so great to connect with you and learn more about you and your company.

00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:17.680
And before we dive into that, I always like to start with asking my guests if you've always been an animal lover and if you grew up with pets in your family.

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Yeah, so I guess we've had a couple of dogs growing up, but cats were more of my thing.

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I grew up out in the country on a farm in the 80s.

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So naturally we had cats like around.

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There's a lot of things I would do differently now, knowing what I know now.

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Right.

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I knew, you know, if I knew then what I knew now, the chat was back then.

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So we had cats growing up around cats and kittens, but I definitely have a love for cats.

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And so then when I went to college and didn't have cats, and then after college and living on my own, didn't have any for a while.

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And then my friend introduced me to a guy that is now my husband, and he had a white girl kitten named Coconut.

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And I was immediately like, this is the guy.

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Obviously, oh, here's Tucker.

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He's yay! I always love animal hello, sir or ma'am.

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He loves to make appearances whenever I am on using my camera to talk to people.

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That's just what he does.

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He likes to come and say hello.

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I don't think how do they know when to do it?

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Oh, yeah, all the time.

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Yeah, he totally.

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He just he knows he comes on over to say hello, but he's the sweetest.

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Orange tabbies are just like they have their own personality.

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He's just the sweetest boy, and I loved him.

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He's nine years old now, so he's longer.

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I love that.

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It's so funny what you said about your husband, because you know, my husband is an animal lover too.

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And I remember when I first met him and he had all these different animals and things in his room, and I was like, Are you?

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I remember moments where he would say, you know, I grew up with a menagerie, we're not gonna do that.

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And I'm like, two.

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We've been married 20 years, we currently have three cats, two tortoises, a scorpion, and I don't even know how many tarantulas.

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We won't even talk about that.

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Those are his.

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And one day he brought home a rescue possum.

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So you know it's always great when we know our people get it.

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Yeah, exactly, right?

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It's so true.

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It's like if you love pets, they're just gonna find you one way or another.

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You just he didn't have a chance.

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Yeah.

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So tell us we got a preview with Tucker joining us.

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What does your for family consist of right now?

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Yeah, so now we have we currently have four cats.

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It's kind of our happy medium.

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We like to stick around four sometimes when we lose one.

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There's a grouping process, but then we eventually get back to four.

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So right now we have Kona, who is 11.

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He just turned 11.

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Tucker is nine, our orange tabby, and Kona is just a long-haired black cat with just a little bit of white.

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And then we have Tucker, our orange tabby, and then Mia, who is very petite.

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She's eight pounds.

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Our neighbors found her outside in their driveway when she was just like three weeks old.

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So I took her in, I bottled fed her for a week, and then we weamed her on to our homemade food.

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And so she's our kitten that has been solely raised on our homemade food with the formula that we make.

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And she's doing great, and she's just nice.

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She is my princess, she is my baby.

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And then we have Izzy.

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Izzy is going to be two next month, and she is a main coon.

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It's a not that into our family, and she is a ball of energy, and she's giant, and sometimes I'm like, my life would be so much calmer and probably more boring with ours.

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There's no words to describe Izzy, but she was a good addition to the family as well.

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So those are our four for a baby.

00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:09.759
It's funny.

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I think we always have that one that's it would be a lot easier, but our life would be a lot more boring if they weren't around.

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And our youngest pumpkin is a calico, and oh lord, some days are like, What is wrong with you?

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You're crazy.

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And then she looks at you and you're like, You're adorable, you could do whatever you want.

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I don't care.

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Exactly.

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Yes, that's exactly how it goes all the time.

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Uh, sometimes I look at her and think, I was that cute, I could really get away with anything.

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Okay.

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But mentioned one of your cats, it has bit you bottle fed and has been on your food the whole time.

00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:53.759
So that kind of segues us into your business and which is superior feline.

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So, where did this business start?

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What was the impetus of you guys going into this area?

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Yeah, I mentioned coconut.

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Coconut, when she was around, gosh, I think she was around between 10 and 12, had developed kidney disease.

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And so my husband, being the microbiologist, scientist, a researcher that he is, went and deep dove into that disease, what causes it, you know, what could we do to help her out?

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Also, around that time, we had another cat, Luna Belle, who we had gotten most of our all of our cats except for Izzy, have come from shelters.

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So two of them, Tucker and Kona, are from the Washington County Humane Society in Wisconsin.

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That's where we moved to California in 2018.

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So two of them are still Wisconsin native.

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And that's coconut, Lunabelle also came from that Humane Society.

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Luna Bell came into our family when she was about four years old.

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So she was already fully grown and we knew she had some like oral issues and stuff.

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So she had to have her teeth pulled.

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But she also developed a fish allergy.

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So she had this horrible fish allergy where if she ate anything with any kind of fish oil, anything in it, she would vomit.

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Like she would go and do like an episode.

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It wasn't just vomiting, like it was horrible.

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So we also had to figure out like, what are we gonna do?

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Canned food, whatever.

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It most of it has some kind of fish oil, fish something.

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There weren't a whole lot of alternatives.

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Like this was even just seven years ago, like 2018-ish.

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And so my husband, again, deep dove.

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And so he said we should start making our own cat food.

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And I looked at him, I was like, You are crazy.

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Like, you wanna, we're gonna make cat food, like with what time that we have, right?

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And so you know, we're gonna do it.

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And so he he did it.

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And then I was like, okay, whatever, you do it, I'll go along with it.

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And then I started noticing our cats, like Tucker always, like when he was a kitten, it had coarse fur.

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And then all of a sudden, Tucker's fur started getting softer.

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And then Coconut, like, we were able to manage her kidney disease with the homemade food.

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She never went past level two.

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Like her markers went back to normal.

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The damage was already done.

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So she was always at like stage two kidney disease.

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But she just basically kind of balanced out and ended up getting IBD, which is also horrible.

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So we've been through the gamut, and then our cat ended up with this horrible blood cancer that only mainly affects dogs and angiosarcoma.

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And we're pretty sure it was due to the inflammation from like the oral stuff she had going on before we got her.

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And then, and with her inflammation and the fish allergy and all the things.

00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:40.480
So it was just, we were at that point, we're like, we're just doing homemade food because we want to be able to control what's in their diets.

00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.720
We felt like coconut's kidney disease.

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A lot of that sometimes comes from their diet, especially irritable bowel disease, because it's all information.

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And so we're like, that's it.

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Homemade food, we wanted to be able to make sure we did not want to go through any of that.

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We're trying to prevent as many of those diseases as possible.

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We know some things are gonna come up just because as cats get older, just like humans, things arise.

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And the more we can control it with their diet and give them the food that's going to nourish them and that is most species appropriate for them.

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That's why we're big proponents.

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And then when we moved to California in 2018, I did not want to go back into the field that I was in.

00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.600
And so my husband was like, why don't we start our own company?

00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:27.679
He has formulated products for pet companies, for doctors, dentists.

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Like he's he is excellent at formulating products and makes really quality products.

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And so he did a lot of research, read medical journals.

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And so he, based on the AAFCO recommendations or guidelines, and then also the journal articles he was reading, formulated a mix with all the trace minerals, vitamins, and trace minerals that cats need that combined with meat makes a balanced diet for them, balanced meal.

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Because cats really only need meat.

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That's what they eat in the wild.

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Actually, in carbohydrates like rice, peas, potatoes, grains, vegetables, sometimes like they don't have the enzymes in their body to process those and to break those down to metabolize it.

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And so those can actually just end up as fillers and being inflammatory to their system.

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We took out there's no fillers in our products.

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Every we say we have functional products, like every ingredient has a purpose.

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And so our homemade cat food mixes, we started with that in 20, he started doing the formula, and then I did all the other things: the website, the packaging, all the stuff, and we just keep kind of upgrading that as we go.

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And then, because cats can be picky, in addition to the homemade cat food mix, we also have some toppers, like liver powder toppers.

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So we have just a plain chicken liver powder, a liver powder plus that has some like little extra ingredients in there that cats tend to like.

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Oh, like a yeast extract and a phosphate in there, but those also serve purposes too.

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Like the yeast has beta glucan, which supports the immune system.

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And the phosphate helps with like bone development, especially for kittens.

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We also have a pork liver powder for cats that can't eat poultry because we are hearing from customers that, oh, do you have anything without chicken liver powder?

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Because our original homemade cat food mix has chicken litter powder in it.

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And there was a really desperate customer who was like, Can I can, is there any way possible, can you please just make it without it?

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Because I can't find anything.

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And we're like, okay, let's do it.

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We just made it up for her, had her try it out.

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It worked.

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And so we added that to her product line.

00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:34.960
So we listen a lot to our customers.

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I used to do a farmer's market right when we were starting out to hear what people were asking, to see if people were interested in what we offered.

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And so, based on customer feedback and the questions that we get, even now by email, I keep a list of everything that people ask for.

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So that if we hear things multiple times and we know there's a need for it.

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And then my husband goes into research mode and comes out with a prosthetic addition, that's great.

00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:05.360
But yeah, we try to make it as simple as possible for people because again, we know cats can be picky, ours is Kona is like the pickiest.

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I call them a jerk sometimes and like bring me a jerk, just eat your food.

00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.720
I have a menagerie toppers, I'm just like rotating through that.

00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:25.600
So I have troubleshooting tips for everyone based on what we've tried and awful feedback from customers, and just try to really help people.

00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.960
You don't have to be somebody that cooks a lot.

00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.440
I hate to cook, but I'll cook for my cats.

00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:50.240
And so we try to make it as easy as possible, give people different ways to prep the meat or to the different kinds of meat to use, like different, like just trying to make it as easy as possible for the average cat parent to go forth and provide a healthier option for their cats.

00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:53.919
I love that because there's so many things that you said that are important.

00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:01.600
I think the first one is that it's important to understand what cats need, and it is different than say what dogs need, right?

00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:20.159
And so it sounds like not only did you guys really do your research to ensure that you're giving the cats everything they need, but you're not giving them things that are going to harm them or things that they are just filler, like you said, they don't need the veggies and some of that other stuff that dogs do need or like to eat.

00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:32.559
But also, yeah, every animal we have is unique and for different reasons, whether it's genetically how they're predisposed, what they how they grew up.

00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:40.960
I just realized all three of our cats are bottle babies at different times and different ways, but they still all have different likes now.

00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:47.759
And our oldest, Charlie, who is 16, who is diabetic, has never liked wet food.

00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.519
We had him, we found him alone as a baby and bottle fed him.

00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:57.840
And we tried to wean him from the bottle into slop and then it, you know, into wet food, and he refused.

00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:03.919
Like I would put it there, I'd put his paws in, and he would just look at me like, What are you trying to do to me?

00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:09.919
And then one day we look over and he's knee deep in the older cat's dry food eating.

00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.759
He went from the bottle to dry food and has never eaten wet food.

00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.440
He will he'll he does this stuff.

00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.919
How dare you even put that in front of me?

00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:25.840
But he's diabetic, he needs the you know, he needs the water, he needs that, but he's never eaten wet food.

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.399
Just like people, they can have an allergy to something.

00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:32.399
And if it's in every food, like there's no way to give them another option.

00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:45.200
So it sounds like you guys have really starting with your own cats and then expanding to other people, really looked at the different issues that a lot of cat parents have and trying to help us with some variety.

00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:48.720
Yeah, yeah, we try to do, we really try to do our best.

00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:57.200
Very obviously, you can tell we're so passionate about it just because of what we went through with our own cats and then just diving deep and doing the research.

00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:03.279
Yeah, and you know, it was funny because I think when we first talked, you mentioned your cat that had kidney disease and trying to help them.

00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:07.599
And the first cat I ever had when he got older, Jack had kidney disease.

00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:15.440
And so we got the special kidney food from the vet, but the problem was it was really tasty apparently because our other cats wanted to eat it.

00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:19.599
We're like, no, this is expensive, you can't have it.

00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:28.720
And at the time I was commuting to a job down in LA, and so I started taking Jack with me during the week so I could feed him without worrying.

00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:31.440
And he loved it because then he got all my time.

00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:44.880
And it helped him, you know, he lived with kidney disease, I don't know, two or three years, but I can imagine for some people, maybe that isn't an option, and they have to have other ways of adjusting for diet and different health issues.

00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:46.079
And you mentioned cancer.

00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:54.799
I've heard so many different people with various types of cancers in cats, and I'm sure some of that comes from the food and inflammation and all of those things.

00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:06.079
So if someone is listening and said, Wow, I could make my cat their food and have control over what is in it, what would you say to them would be a good first start in that process?

00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:08.079
Oh, it's such a great question.

00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:18.559
So we actually, because again, we know that sometimes people don't want to, it's hard to commit to a full-size thing when you're not sure if it's gonna work.

00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.839
So, right away off the bat, we had trial size kits.

00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:22.640
We still have them.

00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:25.839
So we have trial size packets for people, low cost.

00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:33.599
We basically break even on them just to get people to try it, just because we're just excited when people want to try and do this for their pets.

00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:37.359
And so our trial size kits, it's it's a little packet of mix.

00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.400
So it's basically a scoop of our homemade cat food supplement mix.

00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:44.799
We have it available in both formulas, and we also have a kitten kit as well.

00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.039
It's available in the original formula and in the liver powder-free formulas.

00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.519
There's a packet of the mix in there.

00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:53.920
And so you just mix that with a pound of meat.

00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.000
Uh, you can, there's different ways to prepare it.

00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.079
It can be used with raw meat, with cooked meat, with parcooked meat.

00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:06.799
Like we made it so that you can use it with any type of meat that you would like to for the most part, except for fish.

00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:07.920
We don't recommend fish.

00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.240
There's a variety of reasons, having phosphorus, heavy metal, contamination possibilities, stuff like that.

00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:17.519
So any kind of regular meat that walks on land.

00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:29.920
So, yeah, so ground pre-ground meat, which we always recommend cooking because of bacterial possibilities, but it's just mixed with a pound of meat, water, and then an omega-3 oil.

00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:31.920
We usually recommend it's not a requirement.

00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:32.720
We recommend it.

00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:34.960
Lots of benefits to an omega-3 oil.

00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:41.519
We even have a non-fish option, which we discovered when we were going through the gamut with Linabile and our fish allergy.

00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.720
So chia seed oil, we have that as an option for people.

00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:49.839
For it's a pet safe, it's like one of the very highest plant-based omega-3 oils.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.039
And because of the way the seed is shaped, it has a less possibility of going rancid.

00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:00.880
So, like flaxseed oil, the way it's shaped, the oblong shape, the oil, and it goes rancid more quickly.

00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.119
Chia seed oil is more protected.

00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:06.160
And so we have an organic chia seed oil.

00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:12.319
And for cats and for dogs, actually, that any kind of fish sensitivities, we recommend that.

00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:14.400
And then we have our wild anchovy oil.

00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:21.039
And wild anchoby is actually higher in omega-3 fatty acids than like salmon, which is really popular.

00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:25.519
So wild anchovy, great, a great omega-3 oil.

00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:33.440
The main part between the two omega-3 oils, wild anchovy oil has DHA and EPA in it, just because it's that from fish.

00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.119
Chia seed oil does not.

00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:39.839
And so EPA and DHA, they help with cognitive function and vision.

00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:44.079
And so that's some benefits from wild anchovy oil versus the chia.

00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.359
And then I got off a topic.

00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:47.519
So the trial sized kit, the trial size kit.

00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.160
That's so good because I will say I didn't know any of this.

00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.720
And I'm just thinking of like some of the stuff you've talked about are good for different reasons.

00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:03.359
And like when you talk about the anchovy oil, our our oldest cat definitely has some sight issues.

00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:10.160
Sometimes we look at him, we're like, hi, can you like we'll find him sitting like he's a little confused, he's not sure what he is.

00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.839
And you can also see as they get older, their eyes get glassy.

00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.839
And so, anyway, we can help them just like we help ourselves to improve our sight or our hearing or whatever.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:21.519
We all need those extra things.

00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:27.359
And so I love that there are so many different benefits people can get from the various products you offer.

00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:28.720
Yeah, totally.

00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:42.079
So the trial size kit comes with basically a trial size of a scoop of the mix, a little mini wildly anchovy or cheese seed oil that you just pour right into there, mix in with the meat, you mix in some water, and you got yourself some cat food.

00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:45.279
And we try to make it as easy and simple as possible for people.

00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:53.279
Our little trial size packets also come with a trial size of our liver of a liver powder topper again to help with troubleshooting right off the bat.

00:21:53.519 --> 00:22:00.880
Because sometimes you set stuff down like Tucker will just eat the food, y'all just set it in front of him, he's good to go, just takes off eating.

00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:06.160
Kona, if I set it in front of him, he looks at me and he's expecting me to eat this.

00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.920
And so I thought to sprinkle the stuff on top.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:17.039
And so we try again to help people troubleshoot right off the bat by giving them a little troubleshooting right in their pocket with it, too.

00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:20.799
But and then that way people can try it out, see if it works for their cats.

00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:25.920
Our cats actually like it when we freeze the food first, so we make it in big batches.

00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:34.400
So sometimes with the trial size, we recommend, you know, take half of the food, put it in the freezer, put the other stuff in your fridge, and then see what they like best.

00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:39.440
If they like it frozen first and then thought out, because it does change the consistency a little bit.

00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:45.680
The freshly cooked stuff is a little bit more, a little bit more moist, a little bit more wet, I guess you can say.

00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:50.319
And then when it comes onto the freezer, it's like the moisture got absorbed into the meat.

00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:51.680
And so it's a little less.

00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.319
And so our cats tend to like that a little bit better.

00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:00.480
Kona, who needs, he had urine crystals when he was two years old, hasn't had them since, thank goodness.

00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:11.920
But he sometimes will add a little extra water into his food, a little extra moisture to get that so he's constantly getting enough water into his system so he doesn't have to deal with that issue again.

00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:20.160
Um, but yeah, and there's benefits for that too, with cat food being a little bit more is acidic, and so that can help prevent against urine crystal.

00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:22.319
There are a lot of benefits to the meat.

00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.200
But trying to make it easy.

00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:30.400
And that makes sense too, because Charlie had urine issues early on.

00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:34.400
And and they could never really find out what the issue was.

00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.519
But then, of course, years later, he ended up being diabetic.

00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:45.759
So obviously, he's always had some issues there, whether it was from when he was a kitten and we found him outside, or the fact that he would never eat wet food ever.

00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:46.319
Yeah.

00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:51.759
Then I was gonna ask you about doing it in a larger size and being able how long it would last.

00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.799
So I'd love that you can freeze it and then use it too.

00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:07.359
I think, especially today in the economy where everything is more expensive, I feel like every time I go in to reorder cat food or treats, I'm like, wait, it was like a dollar cheaper the last time I was here.

00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:22.960
And so I think what you guys are offering with your products really gives people not only more control over what's in the food, but being able to do it yourself and freeze it and have it and not having to be constantly reordering and paying more expensive prices for sure.

00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:24.079
Yeah, yeah.

00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:30.720
And a lot of times you think, oh, human-grade meat, oh, it's gotta be more expensive to make it, but actually it's not.

00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:46.240
It's, I mean, if you're paying like two or three dollars a can for some of that premium food, you got it's like less than three sometimes, depending on the type of meat you use, but on average, like$1.50 to$2 a can when you're making it yourself.

00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:52.000
So like a pound, you get more out of a pound of food than you would out of the can of food, which is good.

00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.039
But it's definitely we found it to be more cost effective.

00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:01.680
When we stop buying canned food after Coconut passed away, we're like, oh, look at all the money that we have left over in our cat budget.

00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:03.759
Personality, Izzy just likes beef.

00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:05.279
We found out she likes beef.

00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.400
And so now Kona wants beef, which is fine.

00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:13.759
I'm glad he's eating it, but now we use that money against beef a little more expensive men like chicken.

00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:19.680
But it's definitely we're like, hey, if you're gonna eat it, sweetheart, we'll feed it to you because we just look for sales.

00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.440
Every time it goes on sale, we stock up.

00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:26.559
But yeah, we make about eight pounds, six to eight pounds of food at a time, I would say.

00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:28.240
Izzy likes her beef raw.

00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:31.200
And so we seared outside to get off any bacteria.

00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:33.519
We grind it up, make it into cat food.

00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:41.680
The other cats like there's a little bit more cooked if they like a little bit of rawness in their chicken with the avian flu scare this past year.

00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.440
We've been cooking it all the way lately, but we'll probably go back to a little bit raw in the middle.

00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:53.599
So, yeah, there's a lot of ways to kind of control and kind of tweak the food based on what the cats like too, which is good.

00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:54.559
Yeah, that's great.

00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:01.359
Yeah, because they all have unique likes, but also like you with four and us with three, they're all at different ages.

00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.200
May need something else.

00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:09.440
Versus, I had gotten some free samples of I don't even remember what food it was at CatCon that was for older cats.

00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:14.400
And my Frenchie, who is 12, loves it.

00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:16.720
So does pumpkin, but pumpkin's only three.

00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:23.039
And I'm like, girl, this is more expensive, and Frenchie needs it, but you can't keep her from not eating it.

00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:31.200
I think it sounds so much like what you guys offer, gives people the ability to do that and to cater to the needs of each individual pet.

00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:40.559
And I know one of the things I had talked to you about was my both of my girls, Frenchie and Pumpkin, are very itchy, especially right now going into the fall.

00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:47.599
And so we had talked about you had send me a sample of some of the oil to start using, and I've started kind of slowly putting that in.

00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:54.559
So, what are some of the other products that you offer that help with issues like that, like allergies, skin issues, things like that?

00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:56.720
Yeah, great question.

00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:58.160
Yeah, cats.

00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:03.119
I know why is it always long-haired ones that need to get brushed and they're just like, no, don't brush me.

00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:04.880
I'm like, you come over here.

00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:06.799
I feel your pain.

00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:10.559
So we have skin allergies, it was a big one, especially for dogs.

00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:14.880
Man, when I did the farmer's market, there'd always be people coming up, like my dog.

00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:19.519
One of my market friends, her dog had gotten into something, his skin freaked out.

00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:24.720
And so we had her try the omega, one of the omega-3 oils because that definitely helps.

00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:29.519
Omega-3 oil is very anti-inflammatory, so it can kind of help take down that inflammation.

00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:32.079
But then also we have the postbiotic.

00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:34.880
So our postbiotic helps with a number of different issues.

00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:36.319
It's a it works a little differently.

00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:37.920
My husband hates it when I say this.

00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:44.880
But this is how it comes in my head because he's a scientist, so he knows explicitly like how it works.

00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:45.119
Right.

00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:50.400
But with a postbiotic, it does, it has kind of a different purpose than a probiotic.

00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:54.079
So a probiotic, you're trying to introduce the bacteria into the system.

00:27:54.160 --> 00:28:05.440
With a postbiotic, that little sucker is going in there and it is basically helping to create an environment in the gut for the body to produce its own most beneficial bacteria.

00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:16.880
So instead of trying to introduce things that can get killed off by the gut as it goes through and stuff, you're actually putting, you know, this is going in there and kind of helping to clear out the bad stuff and create a really good environment.

00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:21.200
And so this helps with inflammation, it helps with their skin issues.

00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:32.319
So we paired, I should knock it off on the tangent for skin issues, it helps with gut issues, it helps with inflammation because there's a huge amount of immunity stems from the gut.

00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:45.599
And so helping to really strengthen the gut and get it as as you know as good as possible is gonna help their brain health, it's gonna help their skin health, it's gonna help the whole animal, the whole human being as well.

00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:55.680
And I was gonna say a lot of what you're saying makes sense because I take omega-3s for myself, and autoimmune issues, and it helps with inflammation, and so it makes sense.

00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:03.200
And we've used different CBE products with myself and our pets before for the same reason the inflammation, especially as they get older.

00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:08.160
So it sounds like your omega-3 oils really help with a lot of those things and for dogs as well.

00:29:08.720 --> 00:29:09.839
Yes, yeah, yeah.

00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:13.680
So we have most of our products are can be used for both cats and dogs.

00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.160
Our only cat-specific product is our homemade cat food mix, our formula.

00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:32.720
So that's our only very cat-specific product, just because dogs, again, like you mentioned before, they have different needs, but we have some aspirations of coming out with a dog mix, and I'm gonna push my husband to do that next year.

00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:41.359
But then now that we've got everything pretty much good to go with the cats and the cat products, but customers have been asking for that too, for one for the dogs.

00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:44.559
But yeah, so that's our only cat specific product.

00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:49.759
But yes, we are postbiotic is an excellent product, it's human grade and it's concentrated.

00:29:49.920 --> 00:30:04.640
One of my husband's biggest frustrations is a lot of the pet probiotics you find on the market are diluted and they don't work as well as you want them to, but even Kona, like I have to mix this with churu, and he's the one that needs it the most because of his hairballs.

00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:07.279
That's another thing it helps with, but also helps with hair balls.

00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:13.440
Our short-haired cats rarely ever get hair balls, and we really attribute it to the homie cat food and the postbiotic.

00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:26.240
Our long-haired cats do sometimes get hair balls, even though I try to brush them as much as possible, but it definitely helps cut down because with strengthening up the gut's kind of able to process the hair a little bit better.

00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:33.599
So the postbiotic really that's one of the other products that we're super passionate about, just because of all the benefits that could come from it.

00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:36.400
And it can also be used concurrently with a probiotic.

00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:49.839
So people have probiotics and they want to continue using them with their cat, it actually helps to increase the effectiveness of the probiotic because it's creating that environment in the gut for the bacteria to thrive.

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.880
So that way when the cats are taking the probiotic, the postbiotic is helping create that environment for them to take the most effect in the body, which is that.

00:30:59.039 --> 00:30:59.759
Yeah, that's great.

00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:05.599
Yeah, and I forgot to mention the friend that had tried that combination out.

00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:08.799
She also did that her vet had to adjust a bland diet.

00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.079
So she had him on, you know, or not, I guess we'd call it a bland diet.

00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:13.680
It was like boiled chicken or something.

00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:18.079
Just to make sure that she was cutting out whatever that could have inflamed him.

00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.400
But within, I think it was like a month, within like a month to two months, he was back to normal.

00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:28.079
Like his fur because he was starting to lose fur in areas, his fur was coming back in, like he was doing amazing.

00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:29.920
And so we're like, oh, that's awesome.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:31.920
And she's like just your products and the chicken.

00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:35.119
I'm like, wait, then we know that it works.

00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:45.119
Um that was a really good test to see like how it, how those products could work in you know, a dog or that that skin issue that he was having the inflammation.

00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:45.920
Love that.

00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.720
So anyone listening that's okay, I need to check this out.

00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.359
I want to try the food, I want to try this or that.

00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:57.200
Superior Feline is an affiliate partner of the podcast now, which I love to share.

00:31:57.440 --> 00:32:01.039
And I was just confirming in my head, so I didn't get it wrong.

00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:07.200
If you use code STORYOFMYPET, you will get 15% off your entire purchase.

00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:17.440
And of course, the link is in the show notes or wherever you're listening or watching this episode, or you can just go to superiorfeeline.com and check out their products.

00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:25.519
And Holly said, there are some like sample tester product smaller ones you can get to try it out and see how your pets like it.

00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:33.200

Learning Pet Nutrition Science: How Four Cats Taught This Couple Everything About Pet Food

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