My Dog Is Better Than Your Dog

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

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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

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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
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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
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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 🐶🐈‍⬛