Welcome to the Natural Health for People in Pets podcast, a show that aims to empower you with the knowledge and tools needed to take control of your own health and wellbeing, as well as providing health promoting strategies for the dogs in your life. The world of health and nutrition can be overwhelming, so what better way to understand what works and what doesn't, what's evidence based and what's not, then to hear it from someone in the know.
So please welcome your host of the show, accredited Naturopath and nutritionist Narelle Cook. Welcome back to Natural Health for People and Pets. I'm co-host of the show, Glen Cook. It's been quite a while since episodes, but I'm going to welcome the host of the show, Noelle Cook. Hello everyone. Great to be back. And I do apologize that it's been quite a while, but life got busy. Much busier than I thought it would be, but it's been very exciting times.
Interesting that you were at the Dog Lover Show recently under the CC Banner, of course. Mm-hmm. , and of course there were people that were coming up to you saying that they were disappointed that you hadn't put out any more episodes lately. I didn't realize that's where you're going with that. Yeah. Yes. Quite a few people who visited me on my stand and when we say CC, we are referring to Canine Ceuticals. That's right. Yeah. I've gotta remember we call it CC because that's our lingo.
That's our lingo in-house name for Canine Ceuticals. Yeah. So we're at the Doug Lover Show in early August and I got to meet so many of my amazing customers and it's, it's really nice to chat to people face to face and put a face to a name and to talk a bit more about what's going on with their dogs. But yeah, a few people said, Hey, we've been waiting for the next podcast. And I'm like, I know. Sorry. So here we are.
Wasn't only that, we got to meet people that are customers of Canine Ceuticals. We also got to meet the crew behind Anol Rapid. Mm. Yep. Sam and the crew. Yeah. I must say I really loved getting to meet all of the other small business owners at the show. Yeah, Layla and me. Nicole Rus, shy Tiger. Shy tiger. It was really nice to see some of those ladies that have been involved in the pet space business. Mm-hmm.
Especially you because you've got a budding relationship with these people and you're talking to them regularly and over social media of course. And then finally get to meet them in person at the one event. That. Was really great. It was a big weekend. It was very tiring for me as an introvert, , to be talking to people all weekend, but it was so worth it. So next year we are planning on doing Melbourne as well as Sydney. So anyone in Melbourne put it in your diary.
I dunno the dates off the top of my head, but Dog Lover Show 2023, be there. And a Big Ups Deb Phelps and for helping out with the stand and helping you so much. She was just an absolute asset the whole way through. Absolutely. Couldn't have done it without Deb. Deb's been absolutely amazing. She's just a terrific friend and great. Support. Great support, great support. So thank you very much Deb. If you're listening to this, you're a shining star.
Yep. Straight after the Dog Lover Show. We were in Canberra Mm. With af, which is a C T Rescue and Foster. That was a really great weekend. So Glen and I, I were there doing a tag team weekend. I was doing Saturday talking about nutrition, canine nutrition and as it relates to health and behavior. Mm-hmm. . And then on the Sunday, Glen was talking all about aggression. Yes. Managing aggression, especially for people in the industry who are working in facilities.
Not long before that, I actually got the privilege to be able to present to the New South Wales Council Rangers and that was quite a privilege to be able to get up and speak in front of them. So I had a bit of a warmup for the A R F group, A C T Rescue and Foster. And then coming up, I am being really lucky to be invited to have a stand at the Vet Expo. Hmm. This year it's in October at the Convention Center in Sydney.
So I'm really excited to have the opportunity to bring Canine Ceuticals to the vet market. Absolutely. So that's gonna be great. And then we are both at the Canine Send Detection conference in October as well, isn't it? Yeah, I think it's the 11th to the 13th of October. That's an industry seminar mainly for people incent detection and canine odor. So that's gonna be fantastic. That's gonna be wild going to that. There's so many people coming out from the states.
An absolute plethora of the who's who and the scientific community plus Cameron Ford. Mm-hmm. Who's going to be here doing his sold out event at our facility. Uh, he's going to do his O to Pay seminar. As I said, it's already sold out, so if you wanted a ticket, it's too bad. It's already gone. Sorry about that. Speaking of sold Out, we're in Brisbane in a very short period of time. Finally for Poor Sue War who's been trying for three years to get us up there.
And it's just been one Covid shutdown down and lockdown after another. Not being able to get into Queensland and Sue War, who is the person who's behind all this up there, has just been so patient. God love her and she put it all together for us and she's been arranging it and being a fantastic host so far. So, um, we're really looking forward to getting up there and doing your day on. What are you doing, what's your day gonna be?
Canine nutrition and how it affects health and behavior. Mm. I do a lot on the role of nutrition and behavior. I think that's a really important topic that's often overlooked Yeah. When it comes to behavioral problems. So I like to just put that in people's minds. And then we we're gonna talk about commercial foods and understanding what's in commercial foods and uh, raw food feeding and then allergies. So it's gonna be, it's always a packed day so people be caffeinated because my day
is full on. Yep. And it compliments what I'm gonna talk about because I go into the physical characteristics of behavioral problems, especially aggression and how to handle and manage and working with early signs so people can actually see what's going on. And especially if trainers and people in the industry are going to help and advise, or if people actually have an aggressive dog, which there will be some people there with some reactivity.
We will get to talk about that and explore their dogs a little bit further so we can talk about some management structure and get some things into place. I love that about your day. The practical side, like I, the theory is so important for people to understand, but I think it really solidifies what they're hearing when they then see it put into practice and have you talk through Mm. You know what's going on so well.
The whole weekend is your part's super beneficial for it because it plays such a strong role into what I'm talking about. Mm. You know, since you and I have been collaborating further on this, we've found that the role of diet nutrition, what an incredible impact it has on the mental structure and and faculties of a dog. And it's something that's so underrated. Before we actually get into the minutia of the topic that we're going to talk about.
Many of the reasons behind why you created Canine Ceuticals was not only to deal with Ladybug, which was the fire that was lit underneath you to create it. Hmm. But also because of the agitation that dogs go through with the whole gamut of things like ear issues, skin issues, and predominantly gut issues. Which is one of the biggest focuses that you've built Canine Ceuticals around.
And I guess that's one of the things that you've been largely successful for at the moment, which is great and I'm really proud of you how far you've taken Canine Ceuticals in such a small time. It has been. Um, it has been wonderful. It's been, I'm really appreciative of people's support, but I guess people wouldn't support something that wasn't working. So it's a great range. Another thing I want to talk about on top of that is our absolute admiration and
respect for both Big Dog pet foods. Mm-hmm. and Anol Rapid who were extremely generous in supporting us for the A C T Rescue and Foster Group. That was just amazing how much support they put behind that. Both companies really came to the party and were very, very supportive and very generous with what they provided for the people in the rescue community. Just amazing what they did for them. Yeah, absolutely. Big shout out to Anol Australia and to Big Dog Pet Foods.
Speaking of big dog pet foods. Mm-hmm. , they're also a sponsor of our show. Yes, they are. If you are listening for the first time, big Dog, they're an Australian company and they've been manufacturing raw pet food for 20 years now. So they were doing raw food before it was even a a thing. But the great thing is they only use human grade ingredients. There's nothing synthetic or artificial mixed in with their foods. All of their meals are nutritionally complete and balanced. Mm-hmm.
, there's a really wide variety of different proteins, so something to suit every dog's taste buds. They've also got little freeze dried bites, which uh, make a great training treat. Or if you've got a small dog, they actually can make a complete and balanced meal as well. So if you haven't already, jump onto their website, big dog pet foods.com and check out their resource center.
It's full of great articles. You've got guides, frequently asked questions all around raw food, feeding natural diets, and just general health and wellness for dogs and cats. Mm-hmm. like their Facebook page, like their Instagram page, big Dog, pet Foods. They always have some really great giveaways and monthly prizes. So all you need to do is subscribe to their monthly newsletter. Mm. To be in the, for a chance to win.
And we are going up to visit them while we are in Queensland at Sue War's seminar that we are ho hosting up or that we're going to provide up there. Absolutely. I'm so excited. So just before we're at the seminar, we're doing a road trip to the big dog factory. Mm-hmm. . So I get to see it all behind the scenes, how it happens. That's really exciting. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. 'cause they've be had a really open shop policy about what they do and how they
produce what they're doing. So very transparent. Very transparent. That's the word I was looking for. Yeah. Who else are you sponsored by? Who else is throwing some coin behind the show? Ballen Bone, another amazing businesswoman that I got to meet at the Doug Lover shows Arian from Ballen Bone. Mm-hmm. , they're also an Australian company. They make a range of dental sticks, collagen sticks, superfood treats and freeze dried treats. Mm-hmm.
and unlike many of the dental sticks on the market, the Ballen Bone dental sticks and their collagen sticks have real meat as the actual number one ingredient. So you'd be surprised if you have a look at some of the dental sticks on the market, just what's in them. Definitely choose Ballen Bone as your number one dental stick for your dog.
And the other great thing about Ballen Bone Dental sticks is they contain active ingredients that have been clinically proven to freshen your dog's breath and to fight plaque and tartar. I've said this before, giving a dental stick without those active ingredients is like us cleaning our teeth with just the toothbrush and no toothpaste. Mm-hmm. . So it'll have a bit of an effect, but it's not really gonna hit the Mark Long term.
So you can find Bell and Bone online or in store at your favorite pet specialty store and you can also go online ball and bone.com au. And as an ongoing special for listeners of this show, you can get 20% off the whole ball and bone range if you apply the coupon code ladybug at checkout. Hmm. Ladybug. So ladybug all one word and get 20% off. Why wouldn't you? Fantastic. Great company Australian made Australian owned.
Get behind and support your local Australian community and another great lady in the pet. Food who I'm trying to organize an interview with, a podcast with. Yep. But it is very hard for us business owners to find time to do things like that. Yep. It's a problem when you're small business owners how much time you actually have to throw into it. Yes. I saw a funny meme the other day.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here before, but I really liked it and it said I was sick of working for a boss doing 40 hours a week. So I've started my own business now I work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, . That's it. Um. And the other one which said, so you've got yourself a 40 hour job. I remember my first part-time job. Yeah. Very funny. And. It's gonna be great to talk to Arianne about behind the scenes of starting a business and really what's involved.
I think a lot of people don't truly grasp the extent and the time and the commitment that it takes to, to create a company in a business. I just rem just in you just saying that. Then I remember when we were standing in line getting some lunch at the Dog Lover show, speaking to Mel and she was talking about some of the headaches she's going through with her. That's. Mel from Layla and. Me. Layla and Mel from Layla and me. Yeah. And we were talking to her about some of the headaches she's got,
starting her business up and mm-hmm. You know, all the things that she's had to do and go through and then um, you know, her location and power issues and all sorts of stuff. Yeah. So, yeah, poor Mel. She's really gone through quite a lot to get her product up and going. Great. Products. Though. Great products. Yep. I'll just give a shout out. I love for Mando, our six month old Roddy Pub.
They're gelatin chew the goats milk gelatin chew and they've got other flavors as well, but jump online, grab them really great. Yes they are. Yeah. He loves them. He just devours them. Great. For teething puppies too. Very good. Just before we get into the show, which we will get to final shout out to CB d Vets Australia. Yes. They're an Australian company that supports Australian vets with education and access to legal medicinal cannabis treatments that we can use on our pets.
Mm-hmm. and getting started is really easy with them. You just need to jump onto their website, CBD vets australia.com au, fill out their contact form. Someone will get back to you pretty quickly and have a chat about whether C B D is an appropriate treatment option for your pet jump on their website. You can check out their resources pages, their blogs, their frequently asked questions. Oppi our French Bulldogs on C B D's been on it for quite a while now. Yep.
And we've seen improvements swear. By it. Yep. So if you, if you think it might help your pet, give it a go. Mm-hmm . Alright. What are we talking about today? I wanted to talk about an ingredient that most people are familiar with in a vague way, but don't really know the full extent of the health benefits that it provides. Mm-hmm. , any guesses what we might be talking about? No, I don't. I've got no idea what you're doing. Colostrum.
Oh yeah. Yeah. Now I recall because you were saying that you need to talk about it. The aim of the show today is to expand people's knowledge about colostrum, what it is, what it does, the various health conditions that it can be helpful for, what to look for when buying a colostrum product. And then the safety aspects of colostrum. Colostrum's been known for centuries for its health benefits and there's lots of really good current research on the benefits of colostrum for human health.
One paper even stated that bovine colostrum may be one of the most promising nutraceuticals for the prevention or mitigation of various diseases in humans. Mm-hmm So that's pretty significant. But there's also a growing amount of research on animals. So that includes farm animals because there's some great production benefits to
adding colostrum into the feed as well as our domestic cats and dogs. Mm. I know for example, that if we've ever been involved in a litter of puppies, I get very anxious if the mother doesn't start producing milk at a very early age because she's not also not producing colostrum. Which is absolutely beneficial in kick-starting the immune system in the puppies when they get going.
So it's a huge concern if you've got a female that's not milking very early on and those little puppies aren't getting that vital couple of days of colostrum that's usually produced first and then the milk starts coming in after that. Absolutely. The mother will start making it in her body like in the weeks leading up to giving birth. But you know, that first 24 hours particularly is when the colostrum's released. It's called the First milk. Yep. Or the early milk, you're spot on.
Like the mammals make colostrum like newborn mammals. They ba they're basically born without a competent immune system. Mm-hmm. . So they really do rely on those antibodies or those immunoglobulins that come through the colostrum from the mother in that first 24 hours basically to survive. The other great thing about colostrum is that it's rich in protein and fats and lots of other goodies that I'll go through in a bit more detail shortly. And it looks a bit different.
I guess not many people are gonna see colostrum come straight outta the mother, but because it's got a much different nutrient profile, it's thicker and tends to be a bit yellower Right. As well. Mm-hmm. So before we get into the details a bit more about colostrum, I guess I wanna clarify when, like most times when people are talking about colostrum as a supplement, they're generally referring to bovine colostrum. So cow colostrum, most of the research is actually done using bovine colostrum.
And the main reason that that's the case basically comes down to production volume and accessibility. So while it varies a little bit, depending on which source you read, baby cows generally need three to four liters of colostrum in the first few hours of life. Yet dairy cattle can make, you know, two or three times that amount. So it's just more available as a product than milk in a cat for example, . For. Colostrum. You made me think of Meet the Fuckers when you said that. I. Don't.
Follow. There's a scene in it where he talks about milking a cat, Robert De Niro, who plays the father in that. He goes, well I have nipples, Greg, would you milk me? Oh, okay. . Yes. You'll have to watch that now I have to watch it. Yep. There's three main components of bovine colostrum. Mm-hmm that make it so amazing for us and our dogs. You've got like the nutrient component, you've got immune factors and you've got growth factors.
So they're all quite separate with their own unique beneficial profiles. But of the nutritional components, colostrum is very rich in protein and fat. It contains all of the fat soluble vitamins. So things like vitamins A, D, E, and K. It contains the water soluble B vitamins. It's rich in several essential minerals. Things like calcium, copper, iron,
zinc, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus. And it's all of these, you know, vitamins and minerals that are important for the correct functioning of the metabolic processes of the newborn and just for healthy growth and development. So even though colostrum's got amazing immune factors and newborns need it for that side of it, you know, it's also a complete food source. Mm. For puppies or you know, whatever baby animal. Yep. Absolutely. It is as well. Then you've got the immune factors.
I'm not gonna list all of them 'cause there's quite a list, but these tend to be referred to as bioactive components and they're known to strengthen and enhance the immune system and to increase resistance to infections. And that could be infections caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. Some of the key immune factors that people may be familiar with, one of them is lactoferrin. It has antiviral antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.
And the way it works in terms of killing bacteria, it actually destabilizes the outer membrane of the bacteria, which then allows the immune system to attack them more successfully. And in terms of its antiviral properties, it attaches to the virus and prevents it from entering the cells because the virus is replicating our cells. Mm-hmm. . So that's pretty cool.
The other one we've already touched on, on immunoglobulins, they're probably the most important immune factor that comes with colostrum. That's what confers the immunity to the newborn from the mother. Mm-hmm. , there's lots of others. I'm just looking at a list of all the immune factors, but one that I'm gonna talk about a bit later and which is most relevant to our dogs, uh, called proline-rich polypeptides.
So they stimulate a weakened immune system, but they can also stabilize an overreactive immune system. And this is what we tend to see in autoimmune diseases and allergies. So we'll talk more about proline-rich polypeptides when we talk about allergies. Mm-hmm . And then finally growth factors. And again, there's a long list of growth factors in colostrum. Some that people might be familiar with. Growth hormone, epithelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, fibroblast growth factor,
platelet derived growth factor. So you can see very anabolic our growth factors, all of these nutrients, immune factors, growth factors, that's what's making it an essential part of the development and the health of the newborns. Mm-hmm. . And it's what's also led to its use in the treatment and prevention of diseases
in humans. So if we look at it then from the other side, and I think you touched on this earlier, it's for all of those reasons that the absence of colostrum, like immediately following birth, if a puppy doesn't get their intake, their share, that can lead to a whole raft of different health disorders and diseases and you know, likely death. So it's, it's just such a fundamental part of the beginning of our puppy's lives.
Can I just ask a question quickly there, you said the word anabolic before. Mm-hmm. I know what that means and some people will know what that means. What does it mean for some of the listeners out there who aren't really sure what the term anabolic means? What does that mean? Well the easiest way to think of anabolic is to build up Yep. Anabolic growth factors when we're talking about muscles for example. Mm-hmm. is, you know, supports the growth of the muscle.
Whereas catabolic, which is the opposite of anabolic is the breakdown. Mm-hmm. of something. So you might have the breakdown of muscle tissue. So that's a catabolic process. Right. Okay, cool.
Before we get into the individual health conditions that Colostrum's used for, I just wanna address, I dunno if this is something you've heard, but I hear it pop up quite a bit on social media when people are talking about giving colostrum to puppies beyond that first 24 hour period or giving it to adult dogs or you know, humans taking it and I hear them say, well what's the point? How can there be a benefit? You know, it won't get taken up into the bloodstream, you know, it's a waste of money.
And that's true to an extent in terms of it not being taken up into the bloodstream, but there's a lot more to it, which I think it's important for the listeners to understand. Mm. So have you heard that? I have heard that, yes. I heard somebody talking about it on one of the breakfast shows on TV a while ago. Oh really? Yes. They weren't just talking about colostrum, they were talking about collagen in one form and poo-pooing that and they were
doing the same thing with colostrum as well. Oh. That would've been interesting to. See. Yeah, I just, I was walking in and outta the room and I could hear, I think it was Dr. Carl or something like that on the, on the Morning show and I heard him poo-pooing and then, but I heard counter to that sometime after that where there was somebody saying, oh, I heard what this doctor was saying on the show and there was a couple of things that aren't quite true. Probably easier.
I'll talk about what happens in the first 24 hours of life and then I'll talk about why it's still beneficial. And. There's evidence around this, isn't there? Yes, there is. We've already said that, you know, initially newborns don't have a function in immune system. One of the roles of colostrum is not only to provide nutrition, but to also provide those maternal antibodies to protect the newborn from infection. Mm-hmm . And although at birth, like the gastrointestinal system,
it's completely formed from a structural viewpoint. So you know, you've got the whole tract from esophagus down to anus, like it's all there. But even though it's all there, it's still like, it's like the immune system, it's still not fully functional. Mm-hmm. at that very early stage. And you know, we might think that having a gut that's not functioning properly or fully initially is a bad thing, but it's due to the immaturity of the intestinal mucosa.
So the gut lining in those first few hours after birth, that actually allows for what's called the passive transfer of large macromolecules. So normally our guts are very tightly sealed mm-hmm , but for a newborn it's quite leaky. Right. So they've got the typical leaky gut mm-hmm , but that's the beauty of the design. So it's this perfect scenario to get as much of those large immune compounds. So those immunoglobulins can then go from the baby's,
like the newborn's gut into the bloodstream because the gut is so leaky. Mm-hmm. . So that's what we want. But then pretty quickly, like within 24 hours that gut lining seals back up to become like a non leaky gut and that's where those immune compounds, they don't then go into the bloodstream. But just because that doesn't happen, it doesn't mean there's no benefit to giving colostrum.
Studies have shown that even after the first 24 hours, the immune factors are still highly effective at protecting against infection from pathogenic organisms. Mm-hmm. for enhancing gut health, generally for reducing the incidence of like a range of different gastrointestinal diseases for promoting skin health, immune health and other things that we'll talk more about as we go along. Mm-hmm. . So the mechanism is slightly different.
It's not going from the gut directly into the bloodstream, but the health benefits and the immune benefits and the whole body benefits are absolutely still there and clinically proven there are so much research as to the benefits for adults, humans, or dogs. Mm-hmm. , another interesting thing, studies have shown that giving the mother pre and probiotics during pregnancy actually increases the quality of the colostrum and makes it contain a higher
concentration of those immune compounds. So those immunoglobulins, why that's important is that puppies feeding on colostrum with more immunoglobulins will have a stronger immune system and a stronger, better gut health, which is gonna make them more resilient to infection and environmental allergies and food intolerances and food allergies down the track. Mm-hmm. , so it's so important, this is something I speak about at my seminars briefly,
you know, what happens in utero can set the dog up for life. Mm-hmm. from a health perspective and a behavioral perspective when we're talking about stress hormones, which I think you touch on a little bit too, but you know what the mother eats, whether the mother's stressed, all of that affects the baby. Oh. It. Has such a compounding effect on Yeah. What develops and how the brain develops, which is, it's frightening when that is limited. Mm. Yeah. We could do a whole show on that.
We could, that's just terrifying if the brain is impaired during that point in time and flood with cortisol and, and adrenaline, it really has an effect on whether the brain will grow and function properly or not. Mm. Let's look at diarrhea. Diarrhea and puppies. They, they tend to go hand in hand. Mm-hmm. , it's usually due to changes in diet when you know a new puppy comes home, stress, stress from being separated from its mother and its litter mates. Yep.
All of this is happening at a time where their immune system, it's still not fully competent. It's better, but it's still not fully developed. And this combination of events increases their susceptibility to gut infections and diarrhea. So a group in Japan did a randomized placebo controlled clinical trial with 70 puppies that were between 40 and 50 days old. And the purpose of the study was to determine the impact of adding bovine colostrum as a supplement. Mm-hmm. into the puppies diet.
And then to assess the fecal quality over a 10 day period, they added either 500 milligrams of colostrum, so that's bovine colostrum powder to one group of puppies and then to skimm milk powder to the other group.
What they found was that although the fecal quality tended to improve in both groups during the, the course of the trial, the colostrum supplemented puppies showed us statistically significantly greater improvement in their fecal quality compared to the pups that didn't get any of the colostrum. So basically what that means is the pups that got colostrum had a much better poo right. Than the other puppies. So better formed, more solid good poos.
So the authors concluded that supplementing puppies with bovine colostrum does improve fecal quality when pups are subject to, you know, the stresses of changing diet, changing environment and things like that. So that was great. And look, even though that study itself wasn't particularly well written up, there have been multiple other studies looking at exactly that, like the gut related issues and how bovine colostrum, when supplemented can benefit those in dogs. Mm-hmm. .
So it's been shown to have an a positive effect on the microbiome. It increases what's called immunoglobulin A levels we've already mentioned it affects, I mean, improves the fecal consistency. It works to suppress gut inflammation and the growth factors in bovine colostrum also help to actually heal the gut lining. If there's any damage, which I think I talk about in another study shortly, anyone with a puppy has experienced diarrhea. I mean we went through it with Mando.
Oh I think we've gone through it with every puppy that we've ever had. Yeah. There's no way around it. It's going to happen at some stage where you're gonna get a little bit of the scours with ps. Yeah. And it happens with yourself as well. Like there's not a person I know that hasn't had an episode of diarrhea. Mm. And there's not a dog that I've ever seen that we've had probably except for ladybug. Ladybug's probably the most amazing producer of poo. We've got. Perfect poos.
Yep. She's the perfect pooing ladybug. Yeah. I'm gonna touch wood while I'm saying that because Yep. I don't want that to change . I mean, she's on gut protect. Well she was the one that started you on your journey and that's why. I created Gut Protect and. That's why you created Gut Protect for Ladybug because of her and. Perfect poos. Yep. She's had an amazing consistency with Poo.
Yep. When we first bought Mando home, I mean he's such a chilled pup, so I don't think it was a stress issue for him, but you know, something upset his system. So for the first few days he had quite bad diarrhea and popped him on colostrum. Yeah. Well I think he was out the back eating stuff as well.
Yes. So if we move on to the benefits for adult dogs, there was a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition that showed that feeding dogs bovine colostrum on top of their regular food for 40 weeks significantly enhanced their immune response. Mm-hmm. . And the way they demonstrated that was by measuring vaccine response compared to a control group.
So the colostrum supplemented dogs produce more antibodies in response to the vaccine, which means they're gonna have more protection mm-hmm. against whatever the vaccine was against. And for a longer period of time, which is why we teeter test, you know, when we teeter test we wanna see a high antibody reading and that demonstrates ongoing protection mm-hmm. for our dogs, and I think ladybugs up to year five of teeter testing since her original vax mm-hmm. and she's still fully covered. Yep.
So that's really great. And they also found with these dogs that it increased the diversity of the gut microbiome. And we know, like science has shown that greater diversity is linked to better health outcomes and lower diversity is linked to poorer health outcomes and disease. So for example, in dogs lower bacterial like microbiome diversity is generally associated with intestinal inflammation, compromised immune function and gastrointestinal dysbiosis not what we want for our dogs.
And the study also showed absolutely zero side effects from the supplementation of bovine chorum. Can I just step back in time and talk about ladybug just a little bit there? And I know that we've sort of mentioned bits and pieces on this in different episodes before, but it, it should go without saying that to a large degree ladybug was the test subject in many of what you were producing at the time.
Because in the early days of when we brought her home after she had her original surgery and the vet basically gave us a very, very bleak outlook, we had nothing to lose at that point in time. Mm-hmm. Like, there was absolutely zero reason for not trying a lot of these things on her and we did it ethically. It's not like we just plowed into her with, you know, all these ridiculous chemicals or anything like that.
I mean it's something that Noelle rigorously and I mean rigorous researched on to find out ways to get her walking again and getting her spine to start signaling her brain again and especially to make her gut a lot happier and healthier. And that was, uh, largely the journey that you went on a lot of these things. But even just in her demeanor we saw significant improvement in her demeanor. Things where she was getting easily agitated or, and I mean,
she's just a little pocket rocket, which is to her detriment sometimes. Mm-hmm. But there's a lot of things that have had an exceptional outcome in, in ladybug's demeanor when she's been on a lot of these remedies and concoctions that you put together before you actually Yeah. Herbal and nutritional herb. Herbal and nutritional. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
We keep coming back to it. The, the gut really is the key to health and everything I do with ladybug, it's working on the gut and the immune system and working on the gut supports the immune system, which is what Colostrum's doing, which we are talking about today. But I can't stress that enough. Like if you've got a dog with a chronic or recurrent health conditions or even acute flareups of something, gut health is critical. Paramount.
And ladybug's had multiple surgeries now and she's bounced back every time. And I truly believe her resilience and her ability to recover so quickly and with no complications, like we've never had complications from her recoveries, is due to supporting her gut health and immune health through the natural supplements I give her. She just recently we're gonna reveal it on air. She just recently ate another part of another bed that we gave her. She's relentless in this. Like we've gotta be so.
And needed to be surgically removed. It needed to be surgically removed. We've gotta be so mindful with ladybug because I said before, she's got so much energy behind her and so much drive that when the dogs out the back get excited and she can't be a part of that, she'll start hoeing into her bed or anything that she can get that Yeah. Of that sort of nature. So mm. Needless to say, we've gotta remove it from her during the day and go through a lot of routines
that uh, it's quite a pain in the neck to be honest. But um, yeah, she ate it, but we love her. We love her. Yeah. That's why we do all these sort of things. I mean we just adore her to death. She's just amazing in so many ways apart from that one issue. Mm-hmm. But even, even coming back recently from a surgery, you know, where she had to have be opened up, have it, have it removed from her stomach and then stitch back up again straight back
into eating, well, bouncing around lots of vigor. Mm. You know, we have to maintain and keep her quiet so she doesn't inju injure herself again and back into perfect poos again. Yep. Never stop. Perfect. Poo. No, it's just incredible. Sorry.
So we'll keep going with the, the benefits of colostrum. Yes. And this, I mean ladybug, I've had her on colostrum as part of her recovery from the latest surgery because I mentioned some of the growth factors in colostrum, things like epithelial growth factors, they've got healing effects and have been again demonstrated to reduce the permeability of the gut and to repair the damage done to the gut. Any damage done to the gut.
And there's even been studies shown that it can help to repair damage done by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Mm-hmm . So NSAIDs are really commonly prescribed to our dogs, but they do cause gastric ulceration. Mm-hmm. and very damaging to the gut lining. So colostrum's been shown to help remedy that and other general gut issues, colostrum's great for inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea, any broad spectrum G I T disorder.
And they even looked at athletes like human athletes because human athletes are more susceptible to intestinal permeability. I never, I don't think a lot of people realize that when you're do intense exercise your gut becomes more permeable. And they found that supplementing human athletes with colostrum significantly reduce that permeability. So that was good. If we look at sort of a different side of tissue repair and recovery from injury.
So bovine colostrum's being used to help humans and animals recover more quickly from injuries and that's because of the dozens of those different growth factors present, which can actually accelerate the healing of damaged tissues. For example, the platelet-derived growth factor can help to stimulate collagen production. Fibroblasts growth factor and epithelial growth factor I've already mentioned can help repair of muscle fibers, tendons and ligaments.
So studies on soccer players and cyclists and skis have all shown like an improvement in strength and stamina and quicker recovery time if they're taking colostrum. So that's really good. But if we bring that back to dogs, so in terms of performance and recovery from intense exercise, Boone colostrum would be perfect to give to dogs that are involved in, you know, agility, flyball, any of the working dog sports. Yep. Like why wouldn't you?
Studies have shown that bovine colostrum reinforces bone healing, it promotes calcium absorption and it actually works to increase bone density and it's the lactoferrin that does that. So it accelerates bone regeneration. The way it does that is by activating the proliferation of a type of cell called an osteoblast. So osteoblasts are involved in building up bone. Mm. And the lactoferrin in colostrum stimulates that process. Allergies,
I get inundated every day with inquiries from customers. Mm-hmm. and clients about allergy support for their dogs. Yeah. I've seen your email list. Allergies are categorized as a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. So an overreaction of the immune system to a substance that shouldn't trigger that. Mm-hmm . So if we look at pollen or protein in certain foods, it shouldn't trigger an overreaction, but it does.
And the prolene rich polypeptides that I mentioned earlier, they work to sort of regulate the immune system so they help bring it back to homeostasis. Mm-hmm. . So the research has identified these proline-rich polypeptides as one of the main components in colostrum that helps to improve symptoms of allergies. And the way they do that is by inhibiting or dampening down some certain types of cells that are released in the body, uh, as a reaction to allergens that come in. Mm-hmm. .
So that's really good. And the probably enriched polypeptides have also been shown to improve or eliminate symptoms of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. But I actually haven't gone down that rabbit hole personally mm-hmm. to see if that's the case or not. Right. We can look at respiratory disease. So upper respiratory tract infection is another common condition in veterinary
practice. Mm-hmm , so think canine cough when we are thinking about our dogs and bovine colostrum has been shown to be really highly effective in preventing recurrent upper respiratory tract infections in humans, particularly children and athletes. Mm-hmm. , but there's also studies on the respiratory benefits for horses.
So I haven't seen any research on dogs specifically, but it's proposed that it could be beneficial as a preventative agent against upper respiratory tract infections if given before and during boarding for example. Right. Okay. Or if they're in any sort of environment where they may be exposed to an infected animal that's. A good preventative. Yeah. I mean again, it's so safe and gentle. I mean if your dog is in a high risk environment, why wouldn't you try it?
Yeah. Well it's got other health benefits anyway so you know, it's only only up from there. Yep. Another disease that Colostrum's been shown to be great for is periodontal disease. Okay. This is a huge issue for dogs and they, the claim is that by two years of age, about 80% of dogs have some form of periodontal disease. One of the drivers of dental disease is the oral bacteria. Mm-hmm. some of the antimicrobial factors in bovine colostrum.
Things like lactoferrin, lacto peroxidase, lysozyme, you know, they could all have a direct effect on reducing that bacterial load that contributes to the development of the disease in the first place. Then you've got the immune modulating factors in bovine colostrum that can help to reduce the inflammation that comes with dental disease.
And then you've got the growth factors in bovine colostrum, things like the fibroblasts growth factors and the epithelial growth factors that can actually aid in the repair of any damaged gum tissue. So you've really got a three-pronged approach when it comes to the benefits of colostrum for dental disease in dogs. But for all of those amazing benefits when it comes to choosing a bovine colostrum supplement mm-hmm. oils ain't oils. Yep.
You really do need to keep in mind a few key points when it comes to selecting a high quality product. Mm. So one of the things you need to look for is the IgG percentage. So IgG stands for immunoglobulin G and it's the primary immunoglobulin or immune factor in bovine colostrum that does all the good work. Mm-hmm. . So if it's not mentioned on the label, because sometimes there's regulatory restrictions about what you can put on a label. Right. You should be able to find it on the the website.
But if you can't, you know, if you ask the manufacturer they should provide that information. If they don't or won't, then that's sort of a red flag. Right. And if you do go with a product with a lower percentage of IgG, you know, it's not that it's bad necessarily, but it just means you'll need to use more product mm-hmm.
To get the same health benefit. And to give you an idea, so the canine ceuticals pure colostrum contains between 28 and 32% IgG A lot of products on the market will be sort of hovering between 15 and 20%. And also the more concentrated the product, you will pay a higher price for it. Mm-hmm. because it's more potent, but again, you use less of it. Right. Uh, to get Makes sense. Yep.
Purity. So a lot of companies will add fillers, you know, soy, silicon dioxide, they might add preservatives such as hydrogen peroxide. So make sure you're looking out for that on the label. And depending on how the cows are raised, the bovine colostrum's harvested from some may contain antibiotics, pesticides, or even synthetic hormones. Mm-hmm. , again, the canine ceuticals colostrum 100% pure human grade freeze dried with nothing artificial, no fillers, anything like that.
I was just about to ask why did you source your brand where you sourced it from, but you've, I think you've just answered that then. I'll answer it a bit more fully in one of the other what to look for points Yep. That I'll touch on. Mm-hmm. , how the colostrums process is a really important key to the effectiveness of the product because many of those immune factors and growth factors and nutrients are heat sensitive. Mm. The ideal processing is low temperature and freeze drying.
So when it comes to the canine ceuticals pure colostrum, that is the case. It's done at very low temperatures and freeze dried, but it's validated. So every batch is validated to ensure that the full complement of all of those bioactive compounds are actually present in the amount stated before it's released to the public. Right. That's really important. It's gonna do what it claims it does. Mm-hmm. , it's important that the ethics surrounding the way the colostrum is harvested.
Mm-hmm. , you know, most companies that have an ethical procedure will talk about it on their website. Yep. You should be able to read about that. This is one of the other reasons I went with the colostrum that I chose for canine ceuticals. So it's collected from cows in South Gippsland Victoria. Mm-hmm. , so that's in Australia. But these cows are raised on grass pastures in their natural environment like all year round. So no intensive feedlot practices.
Literally every tub of CC pure colostrum can be traced back not only to the farm of origin, but to each cow that it came from. And that's because the canine ceuticals, pure colostrum, it's hand harvested from a really small number like of select family farms. Wow. And these farmers like really do care about the welfare of their calfs. South Gippsland is just a beautiful part of the world. Oh.
Isn't it? Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, there are guidelines for the collection of colostrum that are put out by Dairy Australia for farmers to follow. So, you know, anyone doing good manufacturing practices should be following that anyway. Mm-hmm , but sourcing colostrum from grass fed cows from like boutique farms, like it does come with a cost. Yeah. And that was a business decision I had to make. I could have got cheap, cheap colostrum out of the US from feedlot cows if I wanted to.
Mm-hmm. and you know, it's always tempting when you're like, ah, the profits would be so much better. But from an ethical standpoint, I literally couldn't bring myself to go down that path. So I am paying a premium for my colostrum, which is why it's priced the way it is, but the quality is just exceptional.
I know you've talked about this before and it, it doesn't even have to relate anything to CC or anything like that or any of the other companies, but even when, you know, like I was speaking to David Ellsworth who's the head of anol, he's one of the owners or the C E O or something like that.
I'm not sure exactly what his title is, but he was explaining to me like the muscle extraction they do for Anol when they're doing it and you know, like how the, each capsule has like four green lip mussels in it from New Zealand. I'll just say Anol Rapid. That's the product. Anol Rapid. Yeah. For people who are doing it right. With all the companies that you were talking about before, everybody who's doing it right, they're sourcing some of the highest quality materials in the environment.
I know people are on a budget with things, but why mess with things which are talking about your long-term health, even short-term health, why mess with it or why go cheap for something that follows you round for the rest of your life or the rest of lives of things and animals and pets and children that you actually care for. That doesn't make any sense to me when people do things like that. Like I know you and I have never compromised on, no matter where our salary packets work,
we never compromised on our own health and wellbeing. Even though I'm, I openly admit on air to everybody that I don't follow everything you tell me to . I know a hundred percent and I should uh, 'cause I feel great when, when I do what you ask me to do. But one of the things is we've never ever compromised on making sure we get some of the highest quality supplements and um,
herbal or or remedies or whatever we are looking for. We just make sure, and you can tell when you get something which is low quality to something that's high quality, you don't save on low quality because you have to have so much more of it or you just don't get the benefits at all. Yeah. What I think is a big part of the issue, which is really sad, is that the average consumer just doesn't understand. Through marketing, well.
Let's say fish oil for example, and this is why I'm so passionate and supportive of Fentanyl Rapid because of just the purity and the quality and the efficacy of their product. But if you buy a tub of cheap fish oil, and this is what I think a lot of people don't understand, chances are it hasn't been purified. Mm-hmm. Chances are it contains heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants and all the nass that are in the oceans now, they're not paying to remove those.
That's why it's so cheap. And you know, if the strength is then weak, who's gonna take 10 fish oil capsules a day to get the therapeutic benefit? They're not. So they're not gonna feel better. Plus they're taking a contaminated product. So yeah, it doesn't make sense to us, but we understand why. And. It's probably rancid too. And it's probably rancid too. Mm-hmm. You get what you pay for. Well that's what you said before with when you're led with oils and oils. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
The great thing about the bovine colostrum, it's really palatable. So if you've got a dog that's got a poor appetite, you can sprinkle it, it sprinkles well onto kibble as well as fresh food, like mixes in really well easily with food, but it's got a, it's a bit sticky so it doesn't sort of just fall through the kibble. It sits sort of on it a bit better. And in terms of safety, like it's so safe. It can be used in conjunction with, you know, veterinary medicines,
human medicines, like even antibiotics. There's no, you know, interactions or contraindications. They say there's no side effects generally to colostrum. But if I was gonna say what might occur, you know, maybe some transient excess gas for a day or two, someone was a little bit sensitive to it, . But um, but that should pass like as the body adjusts. Mm-hmm. , the only reason not to give colostrum at all would be if a dog or a human had a
true milk protein allergy. So you definitely wanna avoid in that situation. Mm-hmm. , another concern might be the lactose content for dogs. Because even I'm always saying like, dogs don't need milk, they're lactose intolerant. Mm-hmm. . But the great thing is that bovine colostrum already has very low levels of lactose. So it has 2.5%. To give a comparison, human colostrum has around 7% lactose and canine colostrum is 1.5%. So it's only a little bit higher than natural. Right. Okay.
Canine colostrum, that's. Good to know. But the great thing is the canine ceuticals colostrum has even less lactose than that like than the standard bovine colostrum because it's specifically formulated to be a low lactose formula. Mm-hmm. and that's because it's got the addition of lactase in it. So that's perfect. It makes it perfect for dogs being a low lactose formula. So ethically harvested and low lactose. Yep. Great. Dogs shouldn't really react with any symptoms at all. Yep.
From the bovine colostrum, that's colostrum in a nutshell. So provides a potent array of like immune factors, growth factors and nutrients that are beneficial to dogs of any age. Mm-hmm. , it can help to reduce allergy symptoms.
The anti-inflammatory components, you know, can stimulate the repair of like gut health and reduce any, um, damage caused by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can help dogs with I B S and I B D. It's been shown to reduce the incidence of diarrhea and puppies and oh my gosh, that's reason enough to be getting colostrum. It may help with respiratory tract infections and it may help with dental disease. So an amazing all round safe product.
There's so many benefits there, just what you've listed there. Also the musculoskeletals benefits as well. So tissue repair, exercise recovery, increased strength and stamina. So really. Good. That must be, it's something that, I dunno why most people haven't got their dogs on it. If. You are gonna try it on the canine ceuticals pure colostrum label, there are dosing guidelines and you might follow them as a maintenance amount mm-hmm. .
But if you did have a dog that had like a serious bloody diarrhea or just had a full on intensive weekend of high activity or something like that, you absolutely could up the dose. Mm-hmm. , like you might do two or three times the label dose for a short period of time just to get them through that acute face. Safe to do so. Absolutely safe to do so.
And then just drop it back down to a maintenance again. So like with Ladybug, you know, she's been on a slightly high dose for the week following her surgery, but I'll be able to sort of pop that back down for Mando. He's not on it unless he's, I mean, he hasn't needed to be on it since his first little diarrhea episode when we brought him home. Mm-hmm. . So it's, it's a very flexible product.
You know, you can have it in the cupboard and use it as needed or you can have dogs on a lower maintenance dose to keep them in optimal shame. And I guess there's plenty of information that you've got on your Canine Ceuticals website isn't there? Yeah. So you can read all about it on the website. Mm-hmm. , so that's canine ceuticals.com au. Mm-hmm. , if you've got any questions about the show, you can jump onto the Facebook page,
natural Health for People and Pets. If you wanna get in touch with me directly, [email protected] au or nelle at natural health and nutrition.com au. Both will get to me. Yeah, that's great. Check it out. Check out the other products on the website. There's a lot of really good information and great products for a whole variety of different health conditions in our dogs.
And considering there's people out there who have been telling us to hurry up and put more episodes out, if you'd like the show, why don't you go online to Spotify or to Apple Podcasts and leave a review. Yeah, that would be great if you could share the love and tell others about the show and leave a review. Yeah, definitely do that. Tell others about the show. And Noelle's been great at reaching out to our fan base, entering questions and helping people out.
And especially we do want to give a big thanks to everybody, even though canine Ceuticals is Noelle's company, I'm her husband. So I still get the benefits of not only seeing it grow and do well, but also seeing so many happy people coming through. Noelle has most of her businesses online, but occasionally she'll get people dropping in to pick up products if they're local. Mm-hmm. It's so nice to hear and see people talking about what benefits they've had with
their dogs. People that I've, you know, who've come in and done courses with me and or done training sessions with me have been talking about how they've already got their dog on, how wonderful it is, what big change it's made. So that's great to hear because we fundamentally got in it for when we got into, uh, a diabolical mess with Ladybug. That's why Narelle did so much research, because as you know, like we've talked about so many times, but it was just killing us, what was happening to her.
And it's nice to see people getting a turnaround and a positive net effect from their dogs when they're changing their diet, when they're supplementing the right way with somebody who's done all the hard work and the legwork for everybody. So, yeah. I. Just wanna jump in quickly there. If you do have a really sensitive dog, because just like people like Glen and I, we can take the same supplement and Glen might get an upset stomach and I don't
Yep. Sort of. At times it happens. Yep. The same thing can happen with our dog. So if you do have a very sensitive dog and you're not sure about a product or the dosing, please, that's when you need to email me and we can structure the introduction of the product and the dosing to make sure that there's not gonna be any issues. So that's, everything can be tailored and tweaked. You just need to get in touch with me. Yep.
Well, she's given you all those details, so. Yep. If in doubt, just go straight to the Canine Ceuticals website, which is. Canine ceuticals.com au. Okay, well that's a good place to leave it. Thanks everybody. Thank. You. Bye.