On the 9th episode of Petworking, we cover a topic that has the potential to drive profound reverberations across the pet food ecosystem, the human food ecosystem, and in the fight against climate change.

Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health. It is a method of farming that "regenerates" the soil, improving its nutrient content and increasing its carbon capture potential.

I was fortunate enough to be joined by Tina Owens, Senior Fellow of Regenerative Agriculture at Green America to discuss regenerative agriculture, and why it is more than a sustainability buzzword.

Take a listen to the episode to hear Tina and I discuss:

Regenerative Agriculture and its Ties to Nutrient Density in Food

The Positive Health Effects of Eating a Nutrient-Dense Diet for Both Humans and Animals

Regenerative Agriculture's Potential to Contribute to Carbon Sequestration

Despite all of the benefits outlined above, very few companies are marketing regenerative agriculture to the consumer, and outlining the connection between regenerative agriculture, and increased nutrient density, better health outcomes, and carbon sequestration.

Regenerative agriculture is still in its early stages. Several companies, like Cargill, Pepsi, and Nestle, have committed to implementing regenerative agriculture practices. Regenerative practices can be profitable for farmers and can contribute to the longevity of their farms.

However, ultimately, it will require demonstrated demand from the consumer to ensure that regenerative agriculture is adopted on a large scale.

Hopefully, after watching this episode, you'll find it in you to become an advocate for regenerative agriculture, for the good of human health, animal health, and the health of our planet.

Have you ever noticed how some families are just good at certain things?

The Bush and Kennedy families were political dynamos.

The Ripken and Griffey families were baseball savants.

In pet food, it's the Scott family.

Jim Scott Sr. bought Old Mother Hubbard in 1961, and instilled his passion for animal nutrition in his son, Jim Scott Jr.

Jim Scott Jr. founded Wellness pet food in 1997, and is credited with helping drive the humanization of pet food, with his focus on natural ingredients.

After both his sons experienced life-altering injuries in the early 2000s, Jim Scott Jr. sold Wellness and Old Mother Hubbard in 2008.

However, as Jim Scott III recovered from his traumatic brain injury, and his brother, Andrew, recovered from his spinal cord injury, Jim Scott Jr. realized that he still had a passion for pet nutrition.

Building on the growing trend of raw and freeze-dried diets, Scott set out to create a kibble that would offer pet parents the health benefits of raw/freeze-dried, but with convenience of kibble.

The result was RAWZ, which the family describes as "the next best thing to feeding raw."

Jim Scott III became involved in the business, and the family launched the brand at Global Pet in 2015.

It uses no rendered meals, rendered fats, or commercial gums.

And best of all, the Scotts saw this new brand not only as a means of improving pet nutrition, but as a way to give back.

In honor of the immense support they received during their difficult times, they decided to pay it forward - RAWZ donates 100% of its profits to charity, focusing on service dogs, spinal cord injury, and traumatic brain injury.

Want to hear more? Join me on the latest episode of Petworking, as I sit down with Jim Scott III, and talk about his experience growing up in one of the "first families" of pet food, and RAWZ mission to improve pet nutrition and give back to the community.

Catch the episode and share with those who believe in changing lives, one pet at a time.

In the latest episode of Petworking, we had the pleasure of hosting Matthew Sherman, SVP of Marketing at PetPlate, for a deep dive into the rapidly growing fresh/frozen refrigerated pet food market.

We introduce listeners to Jessica Stewart, a Senior Manager at Maia Strategy Group, and a former Diagnostic Support Consultant at IDEXX. Jess will be supporting Petworking with her expertise in Animal Health Diagnostics.

One of the last things I do every night before I go to bed is brush Peony’s teeth. We’ve done this for almost 4 years now, and it’s very much a part of our routine.

This week on Petworking, we chat with Dr. Cade Wilson, DVM, a leading veterinarian with an award-winning practice in South Central Oklahoma. Dr. Wilson is also the founder of a company called Skoped Micro, which gives veterinary practices an affordable telecytology option, by attaching a smartphone to the clinic's microscope via a specialized phone case and eyepiece adapter.

Dr. Wilson positions Skoped Micro as a cost-effective solution for practices that can't afford more expensive solutions. It can be used to take images and videos from the microscope, and send them to pathology groups for diagnosis.

I'm particularly intrigued by Skoped Micro's ability to speed up the diagnosis process. Instead of waiting for a slide to be prepped, packaged up, shipped out, and sent to a lab, Skoped Micro allows for immediate imaging and sharing of results. This reduces the waiting time for both the client and the veterinarian, allowing for a quicker game plan for treatment. More critically, because of its low cost, this is an option that can be adopted by virtually any practice, assuming they have a smartphone with a high-quality camera, and a relationship with a pathologist who they can email/text images and videos for interpretation.

Additionally, Skoped Micro is also used for client education. It allows veterinarians to show their clients the cytology images on their phone, making the clients a part of the treatment journey, and helping them better understand the condition of their pet. This leads to them being more confident in the veterinarian's recommended treatment. Dr. Wilson discussed the importance of client education, and how it has been instrumental to his success as a practitioner.

Although we didn't get to it in the episode, I think Skoped Micro also possesses some tremendous potential as part of an AI-driven cytology solution, where a model is trained on the images submitted by veterinarians using the app. This could further reduce the wait time in the diagnosis process.

Check out the episode to hear more, including Dr. Wilson's thoughts on televet, and veterinary burnout. Enjoy!

This week's episode focuses on a heartwarming story from one of my oldest and closest friends.

I've known Andrew Stickney since I was 6 years old, in kindergarten. Andrew is a technology professional, and avid traveler and kitesurfer.

Earlier this year, he returned from a kitesurfing trip to Colombia, and told me about how he had rescued a senior stray dog he encountered on the beach, named her "Roxy," and was working to bring her to the United States, so he could adopt her.

Because I've known Andrew since kindergarten, I wasn't entirely surprised when he told me of his adventure and rescue mission, but I did think it was a story that is worth sharing with the Petworking audience (and the world).

Andrew's experience is a microcosm of the work that animal rescues do on a large scale on a daily basis, but it provides a first-hand look into why that work is so vital to the millions of animals that wind up in animal shelters each year. It also highlights a cause that Andrew is extremely passionate about: senior dog adoptions.

According to the ASPCA, approximately 3.3 million dogs enter U.S. shelters every year. Of those, about 670,000 are euthanized. Senior dogs (those over 7 years old) make up a significant portion of these euthanasia numbers. In fact, a study by the Humane Society of the United States found that senior dogs are euthanized at a rate of 2.5 times higher than younger dogs.

For every dog that lives its entire life with the same family, and grows from a puppy to a senior in the comfort of the same home, surrounded

Given dogs’ boundless capacity to love, and all that they do for us as humans, I think it’s the least we can do to try to make sure that as many senior dogs as possible are able to spend their golden years surrounded by love and care.

This is what drove Andrew to rescue Roxy. He saw that all she wanted was love, and he felt a special connection to that. I think that is a story worth celebrating.

Enjoy, and make sure to watch the video if you are able, as there are some great pictures and video of Roxy!

A little over a week ago, I wrote about my experience of losing Peony while mountain biking, only to find her after searching for about 2 hours. I was incredibly lucky – according to the American Humane Association, one-third of all dogs and cats in the United States are reported missing in their lifetimes, and more than 80% are never found. Almost 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. each year, meaning that each year, 8 million dogs and cats are separated from their families.

Our latest episode of Petworking is all about televet services in the veterinary industry. With the rise of virtual consultations and telemedicine, televet services have become an increasingly popular component of the veterinary ecosystem. But how do these services maintain the legal and ethical framework of the Veterinary Client Patient Relationship (VCPR)?

In this episode, we talk to Frank DeCecco, Founder of DVM6, who has developed an innovative televet model that contracts directly with veterinary clinics to provide relief services. Frank discusses how his model establishes VCPR and partners with the client's regular veterinarian to provide true telemedicine services, ensuring continuity in care and improving the health of the pets.

Veterinary burnout and staffing shortages are becoming increasingly urgent issues in the animal healthcare industry. We have a situation where many pet parents cannot access care for their animals, especially not in a timely fashion. At the same time, veterinarians and veterinary technicians are suffering compassion fatigue and burnout, given that they are frequently placed in situations where they know they could help an animal, but are unable to do so. These vets and vet techs joined the profession because they have a deep passion for animals, science, and are committed to providing quality care. However, whether it is the result of staffing shortages, or a client's financial situation, a majority of vets encounter cases where they feel they are unable to act in the animal's best interest. This unfortunately creates a situation where vets leave the profession, further compounding the staffing shortages that contributed to the problem in the first place.

Veterinarians operating their own practices are faced with the pressures of running a business, in addition to the demands of practicing medicine. In her TEDx talk, Melanie Bowden noted:

"Being a veterinarian takes a lot more than just my medical training, which is something no one told me in school. I'm expected to be a counselor, an educator, a financial adviser, a team leader. I am the face and reputation of our business."

Roo is an online platform that connects vets and vet techs with hospitals in need of relief shifts. The hospital creates a profile outlining its culture, expectations, and the type of shift available, such as general wellness or surgery. Vets and vet techs can access the platform to browse the relief shifts posted by hospitals. They can then request a shift if it seems suitable for them. The hospitals review the request and determine if the candidate is a good fit. If the match is successful, the hospital accepts the shift and the vet or vet tech can then work the assigned shift. During our conversation, Jeffrey Bishop-Hill, SVP of Marketplace at Roo, told me to think of it "like a dating profile, in a sense."

In another sense, Roo could be likened to an Uber or a DoorDash, translating veterinary and vet tech work into the gig economy. However, Jeff noted that as opposed to other gig economy marketplaces, Roo prides itself on being a community builder for its users, hosting continuing education events, along with happy hours and meet-ups for its vets and vet techs.

Ultimately, Roo is focused on empowering vets and vet technicians to be able to have a manageable work-life balance, which hopefully will create a shift where more vets and vet techs return to the profession, and there is an increase in the number of undergraduates deciding to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. Roo accomplishes this by allowing vets to work on a contract model, determine their own hours, and incorporate the ability to travel and work remotely into a veterinary career. It also allows the vets and vet techs on the platform the ability to focus solely on medicine and animal care, which is why the majority of them joined the profession in the first place. By nurturing that passion and providing room for it to continue to grow and thrive, companies like Roo are hopefully the beginning of a solution to the staffing shortages and burnout that are plaguing the veterinary profession.