For 50 years, we thought we knew what caused cancer. Billions of dollars in research, the entire human genome sequenced, all of it built on one assumption: cancer is a genetic disease.

And then the data came back. And the data said we got it wrong.

Dr. Loren Nations is a board-certified veterinary practitioner with almost 35 years in internal medicine, oncology, and cardiology. He's pioneered hyperbaric oxygen therapy, ketogenic nutrition, mistletoe therapy, and microbiome medicine in veterinary care.

But what makes his story powerful isn't the credentials. It's the moment that changed everything. After three decades of practicing conventional medicine with tremendous success, he lost his wife to triple negative breast cancer. Five weeks from diagnosis to her passing.

In the wake of that loss, he started asking questions the entire medical system had stopped asking: Why did the genetic theory fail? What's actually driving disease at the cellular level? And what would happen if we stopped treating symptoms and started optimizing the body's own metabolism instead?

We talk about the health continuum from optimization to disease, why most wellness appointments aren't actually about wellness, and what it means to heal from the cellular level up.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Cancer is not a genetic disease. After 50 years of research based on the somatic mutation theory, the data showed no correlation between genetic abnormalities and cancer types.

✨ The real driver of cancer is metabolic dysfunction. Cells lose their ability to produce energy properly through mitochondrial damage and oxidative phosphorylation breakdown.

✨ Cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, autoimmune disease all share the same foundation: inflammation and metabolic dysfunction.

✨ The health continuum runs from optimization (Olympic athlete level) to wellness (healthy but room for improvement) to disease. Most pets live in the wellness space, not the optimization space.

✨ Wellness appointments as we know them (vaccines, parasite prevention, bloodwork) are maintenance, not optimization. They don't move the needle on metabolic health or longevity.

✨ Medicine 3.0 asks "why is this happening?" instead of just treating symptoms. It's about finding a cure for the cause, not a pill for the ill.

✨ Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used for acute inflammation, snake bites, non-healing wounds, pancreatitis, IBD, neurological issues, and even cancer therapy in Dr. Nations' practice.

✨ The gut microbiome is 25-50% of what's needed for optimal health. Pets don't get healthy microbes from kibble or sterile environments the way wild animals do.

✨ Metabolic health is the life force. It's the body's ability to convert and utilize energy. When that breaks down, disease follows.

✨ Vaccines were the foundation of veterinary medicine for decades. The profession is built on annual vaccines, and shifting that paradigm requires courage and scientific questioning.

✨ One flame can light the world by lighting one more flame at a time. Change happens through curiosity, courage, and community.

RESOURCES:

Veterinary Healthcare Associates (VHA): https://vhavets.com

Instagram: @vhavets

LinkedIn: Veterinary Healthcare Associates

Facebook: Veterinary Healthcare Associates

Contact: [email protected]

Neoterric Institute: https://neoterric.com/

Instagram: @neoterricinstitute

LinkedIn: Neoterric Institute

Facebook: Neoterric Institute LLC

Contact: [email protected]

COMING SOON:

The Optimized Pet System (Canine Masterclass) — Online course for pet parents on how to optimize metabolic health

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

LinkedIn: Lily Chen DVM, CVA

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Sanjit Basak-Smith has been doing veterinary work since he was five years old when his father opened their family practice in 1997. He started with kennel work, moved to answering phones, and eventually became a veterinary technician working alongside his dad for years.

About 10 years ago, Sanjit started specializing in integrated modalities like stem cell therapy, PRP, photobiomodulation, and microbiome medicine. And through that work, he helped transform his family's traditional Western practice into a local leader in integrative care.

But here's where it gets really interesting. When Sanjit was about 12 years old, a doctor wanted to put him on steroids for his psoriasis. His father, a veterinarian, said absolutely not. He found a natural alternative and it worked.

Years later, when Sanjit started working closely in the clinic, he noticed something he couldn't let go of. The same steroid his dad refused for his own son, he was prescribing to his patients every day. That one question changed the entire trajectory of their practice: Why is this okay for your patients, but not for your son?

We talk about why probiotics alone aren't enough, what microbiome testing actually reveals, why your dog's skin problem might really be a gut problem, and how to start making changes that actually stick.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ If your pet doesn't have diarrhea, it doesn't mean the gut is fine. Skin issues, chronic allergies, and inflammation are often rooted in microbiome imbalance.

✨ The microbiome is responsible for breaking down food and regulating immune response. When it's off, symptoms show up everywhere.

✨ Probiotics are great for a healthy gut, but when there's dysbiosis, you need fecal transplant to reintroduce native bacteria the body actually needs.

✨ Prescription diets are meant to be used for 30 days to diagnose food allergies, not as a lifelong diet.

✨ Drugs like Apoquel and Cytopoint suppress the immune system. Never start them if infection is present. Microbiome testing helps identify hidden infections before starting immunosuppressants.

✨ Microbiome testing should be done preventively throughout a pet's life, just like bloodwork. It can detect issues before organs start failing.

✨ After antibiotics, use fecal transplant capsules for seven days to restore native bacteria. Probiotics alone won't reintroduce what was wiped out.

✨ Fresh food is superior to kibble. This isn't controversial anymore. Processed food and poor farming practices are affecting our pets' health.

✨ Sanjit's father was ready to sell the practice and leave veterinary medicine. Integrative medicine and microbiome treatment brought the love back and saved him from burnout.

✨ You are allowed to ask questions and advocate for your pet. A good vet will welcome that conversation.

RESOURCES:

Monroe Town and Country Veterinary Hospital: https://monroectvet.com

Instagram: @monroetowncountryvet

Animal Biome: https://www.animalbiome.com

Instagram: @animal.biome/

FOR VETERINARIANS:

Feeling stuck in the cycle of treating the same chronic cases with limited tools?

Vets in Dr. Lily's first microbiome training cohort said learning this work literally saved them from burnout and brought the passion back to their practice.

The Magic of Microbiome Course (Veterinary Microbiome Training): https://theunicorn.academy/

Learn how to:

• Interpret microbiome tests and create treatment plans

• Integrate fecal transplants into your practice

• Have confident nutrition conversations with clients

• Prevent disease before bloodwork shows organ damage

• See fewer chronic cases and more long-term healing

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

LinkedIn: Dr. Lily Chen

👉Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

I sat down with Claire Forsyth, a specialist animal kinesiologist with over 25 years of experience, knowing almost nothing about her work. What I got was one of the most fascinating conversations I've had on this show.

Claire started in animal behavior, running dog training classes. And she kept noticing something she couldn't explain with training alone. Dogs and their people were walking the same way. Anxious about the same things. Even learning at the same pace.

That led her to kinesiology, a practice that uses muscle testing to access the body's energy systems. Through precise protocols, Claire can identify the root emotional patterns driving an animal's behavior, trace them back to a specific age or wound, and then bring in the human. Because the animal and their person are almost always holding the same pattern.

Not because the human is stressing the animal out. But because they found each other. Because something in this shared vibration drew them together.

We talk about what a session looks like, how muscle testing works through a surrogate, why separation anxiety is actually an attachment problem, and the story of a Labrador named Gus that changed how I think about the bond between pets and their people.

This one's going to stretch your mind a little. And I think that's a good thing.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Dogs and their people mirror each other in walk, limp, learning pace, and anxiety patterns.

✨ Muscle testing accesses chakras, meridians, and aura through the nervous system. Corrections include tuning forks, flower essences, essential oils, and energy healing.

✨ Animals aren't absorbing our stress. They mirror it. They found us because we share the same vibration, the same emotional wounding.

✨ Separation anxiety is not a training problem. It's an attachment problem.

✨ Gus's story: A Labrador with separation anxiety and his human Tina were both abandoned by their mothers. Both had insecure attachment. When Claire healed the abandonment wound for both, Gus stopped being destructive and Tina stopped over-functioning in relationships.

✨ We don't care enough about ourselves to heal. But for our animals, we'll explore all our emotions if it means they'll be okay.

✨ Conflicting emotions cause inflammation. When we hold two conflicting things, the conflict creates inflammation in the body. Animals hold these too.

✨ Claire works with animals worldwide online through Zoom or photographs.

RESOURCES:

Claire Forsyth: www.animalenergytherapies.com

Instagram: @animalkinesiology

Facebook: @animalenergytherapies

The Animal Mirror Method: Learn muscle testing and explore shared emotional patterns

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com

Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

👉Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips

🐶🐈‍⬛

Dr. Ruth Roberts has been practicing integrative veterinary medicine for over 30 years. She's the creator of The Original CrockPet Diet, which has helped thousands of pets with everything from kidney disease to cancer to chronic allergies. And she's the founder of the Holistic Pet Health Coach Certification Program, training a whole new generation of people to fill the massive gap in how our animals get care.

But this conversation isn't just about what she's built. It's about what's broken in veterinary medicine and how we fix it.

We talk about why your vet appointment feels so rushed, why you leave the clinic feeling like you still don't have answers, and why preventive medicine is still such a hard sell. We talk about the shift from pets as property to pets as family, how corporate consolidation is changing the care your animal receives, and why the real value isn't in prescription sales but in the doctor's brain sitting in front of you.

We also get into the hard stuff. The animals that changed the course of our careers. The promise Dr. Ruth made to her dog Arnold when he died. The black lab named Lucy who taught me that I never wanted to euthanize another pet just for arthritis. And why coaches and veterinarians can actually work together instead of fighting each other.

This one gets emotional. But it's also hopeful. Because Dr. Ruth isn't just talking about what's broken. She's building the bridge.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Veterinarians are overwhelmed. With corporate consolidation, many vets are seeing patients in as little as 6-minute appointments. The average is now 15-20 minutes.

✨ The shift from pets as property to pets as family happened fast. In 30 years, we went from dogs chained outside to dogs sleeping under the sheets with us.

✨ As pets became family, people wanted specialist care. But generalist vets started learning "here's when to refer" instead of "here's how to treat."

✨ Corporate veterinary medicine (Mars Pet Care and hedge funds) now owns 60% or more of veterinary practices. The motive has shifted.

✨ The real value isn't in prescription sales. It's in the veterinarian's brain and their ability to sit with you, listen, and guide you through your pet's health journey.

✨ AI recently scored 95-98% on Japan's veterinary board exam. Knowledge won't be the advantage anymore. Critical thinking, experience, and presence will be.

✨ Holistic Pet Health Coaches fill the gap. They sit with pet parents for an hour, help them navigate all the information from specialists, and create nutrition and supplement plans.

✨ The program is accredited for 40 hours of CE for vets and vet techs in the US and Canada. But most graduates are human health coaches, groomers, trainers, and pet sitters who see pets regularly and want to help.

✨ Some vets see coaches as competitors. But they're colleagues and allies. They free up the vet to stay in their zone of genius while the coach handles education and follow-up.

✨ Preventive medicine is the hardest sell. Human nature reacts to problems, not freight trains coming miles away. But if we can shift the train to another track before it reaches the station, we're miles ahead.

✨ The future: In 20 years, Dr. Ruth hopes we stop fighting to protect our dogma and start listening to each other. That we evaluate options purely on whether they help the animal in front of us.

RESOURCES:

Dr. Ruth Roberts: www.drruthroberts.com

Find a Holistic Pet Health Coach: www.drruthroberts.com (Find a Coach tab)

The Original CrockPet Diet: Home-cooked diet based on functional medicine and TCVM principles Holistic Pet Health

Coach Certification Program: 16-week intensive program, accredited for 40 hours of CE

Instagram: @dr.ruthroberts

YouTube: Dr. Ruth Roberts

Facebook: @crockpetdiet

Tiktok: @dr.ruthroberts

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶

This is a quick conversation I had with Esa after we finished our rescue episode. She asked me the questions I think a lot of you might be wondering but maybe don't know how to ask.

What am I most excited about in holistic medicine? What new modalities are coming to the practice? How did Integrative Pet Wellness Center even start, and why does it feel so different from a traditional vet hospital?

I pull back the curtain a little bit. I talk about the bioresonance scans I'm obsessed with right now, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber I want to bring into the practice, and the hormone replacement therapy I think we've been overlooking in animals for way too long. I also share my origin story: why I started this practice, how I started it, and my story of doing house calls and how that shaped everything about the way I practice medicine today.

We also talk about Remi's story. Remi came to me with a cough that lasted over a year. He'd done all the testing, all the diagnostics, all the medications. Nothing worked. We did one ozone UVBI treatment, and the cough was gone in seven days. One week.

This is a quick conversation for anyone who's ever wondered what's possible beyond what's already been offered.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Bioresonance scans are the future of preventive medicine. They pick up frequency shifts in cells before disease manifests, allowing us to prevent cancer, immune issues, and slow aging.

✨ When a cell is diseased, it emits signals different from healthy cells. Bioresonance scans detect those signals using hair samples or saliva swabs, even for pets who live far away.

✨ Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is coming to the practice. Cellular oxygen is essential, and we are so depleted in modern life.

✨ Hormone replacement therapy is overlooked in animals. Pets spayed and neutered young miss critical developmental hormones, and hormone deficiencies contribute to many diseases we see in aging pets.

✨ Ozone UVBI therapy (ozone mixed with blood and activated with UV light) can resolve chronic issues conventional medicine can't touch. Remy's year-long cough disappeared in seven days with one treatment.

✨ The practice was built on the house call model. Dr. Lily saw that animals heal better in their own environment, so she created a clinic that feels like coming to her home.

✨ Trust is the foundation of healing. When people trust their vet enough to enter their personal space, that trust translates into better outcomes for the pet.

✨ Every team member at Integrative Pet Wellness Center found their way to the practice organically. Dr. Lily has never placed an ad or actively recruited anyone.

✨ We're all on the same team. The best outcomes happen when clients trust their vet, vets trust their clients, and everyone is working toward the same goal: the pet's health.

RESOURCES:

Bioresonance Testing: Non-invasive scans using hair samples or saliva swabs to detect frequency imbalances in the body (available at Integrative Pet Wellness Center)

Ozone UVBI Therapy: Ozone mixed with blood and activated with UV light for chronic immune issues, infections, and inflammation (available at Integrative Pet Wellness Center)

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com

Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Most of us can't imagine doing rescue work the way Esa Van Dusen does. This isn't about fostering a dog here and there. This is about finding a pit bull chained to a tree with no access to water. Getting a video of a terrified dog living in spray paint cans and bushes. Driving straight into a hurricane to pull animals out of abandoned boarding kennels.

Esa has been rescuing animals for 15 years in Austin and LA. She's a digital writer, advertiser, energy healer, and someone who shows up for animals in ways most people never will. Her vision? A healing sanctuary ranch for animals and people. But this conversation isn't about feel-good adoption photos. It's about the real version of rescue. The version where you have to reconcile with the fact that you cannot save them all. The version where you sit in your car crying because the weight of it is too much. And the version where you learn to follow the energy of one.

Esa found a blind and deaf Catahoula dog (originally called Possum) in an abandoned kennel during a hurricane and found her a magical home with two Australian Shepherd brothers where she's still thriving today. But here's what makes this conversation so important: we talked about the reality. Suffering is inevitable. We're not always in charge. We can't decide the outcome. The work isn't about saving them all. It's about showing up for the one right in front of you and trusting that something bigger might be running in the background.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Follow the energy of one animal at a time. 100% of the time, a miracle happens when you do.

✨ Suffering is inevitable. We're not in charge of the outcome, but we can show up for the animal right in front of us.

✨ You can't be helpful if you're sitting in your car crying. Develop the strength to do this work without burning out.

✨ Every single breed is represented in rescue right now. Wiener dogs, doodles, even "bulletproof" breeds that used to never end up in shelters.

✨ The overbreeding crisis means perfectly good family dogs are being euthanized, not because they're difficult, but because there's no room.

✨ Petfinder is still one of the best resources to find rescue dogs by breed, location, and specific traits.

✨ Private rescues are foster-based and easier to volunteer with than municipal shelters. Look for breed-specific Facebook groups and Instagram communities.

✨ You don't have to foster to help. Volunteer at adoption events, transport dogs, share posts on social media, donate supplies, or network for animals who need homes.

✨ Not all rescues are created equal. Some run like businesses, some are emotionally charged. Find one that matches your energy and values.

✨ Rehoming is the closest option to rescue. If you know a family rehoming their dog, help them network to find a new home before the shelter becomes the only option.

✨ Saving one dog will not change the world, but for that one dog, the world has changed.

RESOURCES:

Adoption & Rescue Search:

• Petfinder: www.petfinder.com (search rescue dogs by breed)

Rescue Organizations:

• Austin Pets Alive: www.austinpetsalive.org (incredible rescue organization)
• A Purposeful Rescue: www.apurposefulrescue.org (organization that needs volunteers)
• Hollywood Huskies: @hollywoodhuskies (Instagram)

Community Resources:

• Nextdoor: Find local rescue activity, rehoming opportunities, and animal lovers in your community
• Facebook & Instagram: Search breed-specific rescue groups (e.g., "Dachshund Rescue Southern California")

CONTACT ESA:

If you have questions about rescue, fostering, or need guidance on where to start, Esa is happy to help.

Instagram: @esavandusen

Phone: 512 775 6999

Email: [email protected]

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com

Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

👉 Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

What if the most powerful medicine for your pet isn't a supplement or a drug, but something as simple as light?

Jackie Jolie, founder of AnimaSol, believes light is the foundation of health. Every cell in every mammal's body has a light sensor called a melanopsin, waiting to receive information from photons. And yet, we and our pets are spending 98% of our lives indoors, cut off from the very thing our DNA was built to run on.

Jackie spent 15 years as an equine and canine bodyworker. But in 2018, after being diagnosed with Lyme disease, she rebuilt her health using natural treatments and something she calls a light life: reconnecting to sunlight, circadian rhythms, grounding, and red and near infrared light therapy. She says she runs better at 42 than she did in her twenties.

That personal transformation became AnimaSol, a company that creates battery-operated, full-body red and near infrared light therapy blankets for horses, dogs, and cats. This conversation goes deep into the science of light, the difference between lasers and LEDs, which wavelengths actually penetrate to bone and nerve, and how to choose a safe device in a market flooded with cheap knockoffs.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Every mammal cell has a melanopsin, a light sensor waiting to respond to photons. Light is foundational to health.

✨ Red wavelengths penetrate 5-10 mm into tissue for surface healing. Near infrared penetrates 50 mm down to nerve, bone, and bone marrow.

✨ The 810 nm wavelength penetrates the cranium and vertebrae, effective for cognitive issues, head trauma, IVDD, and paralysis.

✨ LEDs vs. lasers: LEDs deliver the same benefits with zero thermal effect, no burns, and no risk of harm.

✨ Contact method matters. Red light therapy is most effective when the device is in direct contact with the skin.

✨ Cancer and red light: After 40 years of use, no documented cases of LED therapy causing cancer or accelerating tumors.

✨ New studies show red and near infrared light therapy reduces IBS and IBD symptoms and increases beneficial gut bacteria.

✨ Light therapy activates acupuncture points in 30-45 seconds, ideal for needle-shy animals or at-home maintenance.

RESOURCES:

AnimaSol Website: www.animasol.life

Instagram: @anima__sol

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/animasol

Email: [email protected] (Jackie personally answers all emails)

PRODUCTS:

• EquiSoul (red light therapy blanket for horses)
• DogSoul (red light therapy blanket for dogs)
• CatPad (red light therapy pad for cats and small animals)
• Handheld Torch (activates acupuncture points in 30 seconds)
• Human blanket launching April 2026

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS:Use code IntegrativePetSol at www.animasol.life for 10% off

💡FREE GUIDE FOR PET PARENTS:

Curious about red light therapy for your pet? Dr. Lily Chen and Jackie Jolie put together a free guide that covers everything you need to know.

Inside you'll find how red and near-infrared light works, which wavelengths actually matter, a 7-point device checklist, and a condition reference guide for arthritis, IVDD, skin allergies, gut health, and more.

👉 Download your free copy here

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Integrative Pet Wellness Center on Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen on Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

In Part 1, we talked about the cases that changed us. In Part 2, we're talking about what needs to change in veterinary medicine.

Dr. Judy Morgan doesn't hold back. We go deep into the drugs that concern us most, why prescription diets were only supposed to be temporary fixes, and how corporate medicine is reshaping the profession in ways that aren't always serving pets or their parents.

We also talk about something I wasn't expecting to discuss: the system itself. Emergency hospitals diverting patients because they're too full. Specialists who only work eight to four, Monday through Friday. Bills that reach thousands of dollars for supportive care alone. And the uncomfortable reality that a corporate executive admitted to me over dinner that they wouldn't take their own dog to their own hospital because of the cost.

But this conversation isn't just about what's broken. It's about what the future could look like when pet parents are educated, empowered, and asking better questions.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Isoxazoline flea and tick preventatives are neurotoxins, and it took years to get that on the label.

✨ Prescription diets were meant to be used for 30 days, not for life. They're a short-term fix while you address the root cause.

✨ You can't outsupplement a bad diet. Food is the foundation of everything.

✨ How to afford fresh food: Buy whole animals from local farmers, join co-ops, use base mixes and add your own meat, or feed nutrient-dense foods that require half as much.

✨ The veterinary system is breaking: emergency hospitals diverting patients, specialists only working weekdays, and pricing so extreme that financial euthanasia is now a reality.

✨ Corporate medicine is driving burnout: support staff cut, quotas imposed, relationships become transactional instead of trust-based.

✨ Dr. Judy's mission: Educate and empower pet parents to make good decisions and stand up for the health of their pets.

RESOURCES:

Website: NaturallyHealthyPets.com

Dr. Judy Morgan: www.drjudymorgan.com

Dr. Judy U (University): courses on holistic pet care, hospice, and palliative care

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudyMorganDVM

Instagram: @drjudymorgan

YouTube: @DrJudyMorgan

✨SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS: Use code MYDOG10 at NaturallyHealthyPets.com for 10% off

RECOMMENDED BOOKS (all 9 books available at DrJudyMorgan.com or Amazon):

• Keeping Your Pets Naturally Healthy
• From Needles to Natural
• And 7 more books on holistic pet care

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES: Susan Thixton's List: TruthAboutPetFood.com

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.comInstagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

What happens when one of the most influential voices in holistic veterinary medicine walks into the biggest conventional veterinary conference in the world?

I spotted Dr. Judy Morgan at VMX in Orlando, and honestly, I had to do a double take. Here was a woman who has dedicated nearly 40 years to transforming pet wellness, walking confidently into rooms full of conventional practitioners, educating veterinary students who are hungry for a different approach, and bridging the gap between traditional and holistic care.

This conversation is about the turning points. The German Shepherd who couldn't walk and then ran down the hallway five minutes after his first chiropractic adjustment. The practice that was the biggest seller of prescription diets in the country and put almost every dog and cat on one. The chronic ear infections, skin problems, and smelly animals that never got better no matter what conventional medicine threw at them.

Dr. Judy and I couldn't stop talking, so we split this into two parts. Part 1 is about how we got here and what broke us in conventional medicine. Part 2, coming next week, is where things get real: the food industry, the drugs we wish didn't exist, and the uncomfortable truth about the veterinary business model.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ Dr. Judy Morgan became a vet at 12 when a veterinarian performed surgery on her gimpy show pony, inspiring her to help animals the same way.

✨ The turning point: A 100-pound German Shepherd that couldn't walk came in for treatment. After chiropractic adjustments, the dog jumped up and ran down the hallway 5 minutes later.

✨ Why conventional medicine felt broken: Every month, the same chronic ear infections, the same skin problems, the same smelly, itchy animals with no real improvement.

✨ The prescription diet problem: Dr. Judy worked at a practice that was the biggest seller of prescription diets in the country. Almost every single dog and cat was on one, including puppies on PD and seniors on GD.

✨ Prescription diets are meant to be used for 30 days, not for life. They're a short-term fix while you address the root cause, not a lifetime sentence.

✨ One client unknowingly starved their dog to death on RD (reducing diet) because no one followed up to reweigh the animal for a year.

✨ Integrated medicine in action: Dr. Judy's cat developed severe neurologic symptoms with sky-high white blood cell counts. She used steroids short-term to save the cat's life, then weaned onto natural anti-inflammatories like PEA and mushrooms.

✨ The frustration of conventional medicine: Limited tools, antibiotics that barely worked, chronic problems that never resolved, and side effects from every medication.

✨ Emergency medicine was the exception: Dr. Judy loved emergency work because it was rapid-fire problem-solving with immediate results, not chronic symptom management.

✨ The vision came early: As a child, Dr. Judy dreamed of a future where people could see into her life and watch videos of what she was doing. Now millions follow her work online.

✨ Integrated doesn't mean anti-science: It means using everything available to actually heal, not just suppress symptoms.

RESOURCES:

Website: NaturallyHealthyPets.com

Dr. Judy Morgan: www.drjudymorgan.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudyMorganDVM 

Instagram: @drjudymorgan 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrJudyMorgan

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR LISTENERS:

Use code MYDOG10 at NaturallyHealthyPets.com for 10% off any purchase (supplements, dental health formulas, books, and more)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

• Keeping Your Pets Naturally Healthy

• From Needles to Natural

• And 7 more books available at DrJudyMorgan.com or Amazon

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com 

Integrative Pet Wellness Center on Instagram: @integrativepet 

Dr. Lily Chen on Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet 

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛

Picture this: 35 dogs running free in a 175-acre forest. No leashes. No commands. No chaos. Just one guy leading the pack, and every single dog follows him.

How is that even possible?

In this episode, I sit down with Sam Amalsadvala, a former merchant navy chef who accidentally became one of the most insightful natural dog trainers I've ever met. Sam doesn't train dogs — he listens to them. And what he's learned will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about "training" your dog.

Coming from India where dogs roamed freely and leashes didn't exist, Sam moved to Montreal and couldn't speak French. In that isolation, he realized something profound: dogs live in that space every single day. They can't speak our language. They're frustrated, misunderstood, and judged. So he stopped treating them like problems to be fixed and started treating them like beings who needed to be understood.

This conversation will change the way you see your dog — and maybe even yourself.

KEY INSIGHTS:

✨ How Sam walks 35 dogs off-leash in a Canadian forest — and why they never run away, fight, or get lost.

✨ Why socialization matters more than traditional training — and how it prevents behavior issues that lead to shelter returns.

✨ The three things every dog needs: physical activity, mental stimulation, and social time with other dogs.

✨ Why your dog's "anxiety" might actually be blocked energy — and what freedom, play, and socialization can do to fix it.

✨ How to teach recall through play and curiosity instead of commands and treats.

✨ The truth about neutering and aggression — it's not hormones, it's lack of social skills.

✨ Why growling isn't bad behavior — it's communication. And what happens when we punish it.

✨ Leadership isn't about dominance — it's about consent, understanding needs, and walking at the pace of the slowest dog.

✨ Management before modification — how to keep everyone safe in the moment, then work on behavior later.

✨ Replace the word "training" with "learning and observing" — and everything else falls into place.

✨ The microbiome connection: how ear health, gut health, and behavior are all linked.

RESOURCES:

Sam Amalsadvala: https://linktr.ee/thesamaysam

Canivie: https://linktr.ee/canivie

FREE RESOURCES FROM SAM:

• Mindfulness Guide to Happiness

• Short workbook based on insights learned through working with dogs

• Access free resources and community: https://pro.speakerhub.com/speaker-feedback/?qr=e728a6d2-a5d9-4219-a39c-b33a96339bab

FOLLOW:

Integrative Pet Wellness Center: https://integrativepet.com Integrative Pet Wellness Center on Instagram: @integrativepet

Dr. Lily Chen on Instagram: @dr.lilychen @the.unicorn.vet

Sign up to our newsletter to get more holistic pet care tips 🐶🐈‍⬛