STEVE: Okay. I guess we can get going. I'm Steve Campus, I'm one of the founders of Boomster.com and pleased to moderate tonight another wonderful show in the making with Dr. Carol Osborne. And tonight's show, before we get to it, it's going to be about your pets and it's going to cover all your questions and some great information about diet and exercise, which is certainly wonderful. Just before we get to it, I want to let you all know that each of these programs will be available for viewing and review on Dr. Carol's site, as well as on Boomster archives. Last week's show was put up today, so if you missed it, you can get back and get on to listen to that. Also, in the up and coming months, I wanted to let you know that in the coming months, we have three wonderful topics that we are going to be featuring. We're going to be featuring discussions about golf in the spring and all the golfers that are in our audience are going to enjoy our guest speakers. We are also going to be initiating in May, a wonderful book chat, book club, and one of our first shows is going to be with a woman who is authoring the life of Jack Kerouac and we're going to also be featuring some folks that have produced the film about his life. So, we'll have that coming up and in end of March we also expect to have our first wine tasting, so it's going to be a really wonderful, full program/schedule, and for all of you here tonight and, of course, my favorite will be talking about our lovely furry pets. So, if Dr. Carol is ready, we will turn it over to her tonight to talk about the health of your pets. Dr. Carol.

DR. CAROL: Thank you, Steve. Well, whether you're planning on enjoying the Super Bowl and shooting some football with Fido, basking at the beach or hitting the slopes, it's never too late to think about fitness and get in shape. And that's important, because President Obama has declared obesity a public crisis, costing America 93 billion dollars a year, which translates into one out of every ten dollars that we spend is on obesity, which effects over 2/3 of adults in this country, as well as one out of every 3 children and over 50 percent of pets. So, what is obesity? Well, classically, by definition, if your pet is 15 percent or more over what is considered ideal for his age and breed, he's obese. And that's important because if your pet is just 10 percent overweight, it reduces his lifespan by 1/3 and predisposes him to a myriad of diseases, which includes everything from diabetes, arthritis, heart, kidney and liver disease, to lower urinary track disease in cats, as well as cancer. Now, if your pet is 20 percent above his normal weight, that cuts his lifespan in half. So, what can you do about that? Well, the first thing you want to do is assess what kind of condition your pet is it. And we do that very easily, but doing a rib check. So, how do you do this at home? You can just stand behind your pet and touch your hands and run them along either side of your pet's rib cage. Now, the rule of thumb: is you should be able to easily feel, but not see each rib. And your pet should be tucked up, or have a little waist in the area where his stomach meets his hind legs. So, if you can pinch more than an inch and your pet's lost his weight, it's time to think about cutting back. And before you begin any kind of weight loss program with your pet, it's always a good idea to check with your veterinarian, make sure that your plan sound okay to your veterinarian, and rule out other diseases that can mimic obesity, that would include things like Cooshings disease, diabetes and hyperthyroidism, which is very common and very easy to check. Your veterinarian would just pull a little blood test, which would document whether or not your pet's thyroid gland is overactive or underactive, and then they would be given a daily supplement. Now, what is the number one cause of obesity? Well, certain with things like hormones, genetics and individual variations in metabolism play a role. But, the number one cause is well-meaning owners feeding their pets too many treats in oversize portions. So, what do you do about that? Well, first of all, when it comes to your pet's diet and you would like him to lose weight, what you want to do is increase the protein, increase the fiber and reduce the fat. Now, in general, you need to reduce your pet's calories by about 20 percent so they can lose weight. And you want to set an initial weight loss target of no more than 15 percent. Now, it's a great idea if you have a scale, to start out by weighing your pet. And the way that you do that is weigh yourself, jump off the scale and pick up your pet, weigh both of yourselves and the difference is your pet's weight. And if you make a little chart you can post it on the refrigerator or in a place that's familiar to everyone in the family and pick one day of the week, perhaps Monday, and you want to weigh your pet at the same time at the same day each week, no more than once a week and that way, you'll get accurate readings.

Now, what about a homemade diet? Well, if you were going to make a homemade diet, you could go with lean protein, which would include any kind of meat, basically, chicken, turkey, lamb, veal or some of the new novel proteins, which would include kangaroo, venison, duck and they've even talked about goat, that doesn't sound too good to me. Those would be novel proteins, So, 1/3 of the diet would be protein, your second 3rd would be a long-acting carbohydrate, which would include any kind of rice, potatoes, pasta or oatmeal. And the final third is veggies. Broccoli and cauliflower are right at the top of the list, but there's a wide variety; peas, green beans, carrots and spinach would be examples. So, just pick one from each category, cook them any way you like, mix them all together, add a little extra virgin olive oil that enhances the smell and the taste and that's a great source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and remember pets like food that smells good. Most pets like barbecue sauce, some enjoy pasta sauce and a lot of dogs and cats enjoy the brown sauce that Chinese carryout comes in, and that's called Samari sauce. And you can actually go to the grocery store and pick up a bottle of low-sodium Samari, it'll cost you less than a dollar a bottle.

Now, what about exercise? Well, I know exercise is a dirty word for many people, but, exercise is vital for your looks, it enhances your health, your life and your overall wellness. It improves your circulation, it stimulates vital organs, facilitates digestion and helps remove harmful toxins from the body. Now, the [UNCLEAR] component of exercise stimulates your pet's brain and helps to relieve behavioral disorders and helps to bust up boredom. And did you know that every time your heart beats, 25 percent or one quarter of that blood goes right up to your brain, supplies your brain with fresh blood and oxygen, which then allows your brain to make nerve connections, so that you and your pet are both capable of learning new things as you get older and older. It's also a great way to help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, which affects over 7 percent of pets, age 11 and up, and quite a large population of people. In fact, your brain ages seven times more quickly than your body. So, doing various brain games and little puzzles are beneficial for both of you. Remember outdoor activities. There are fitness clubs that have opened up their doors to people and pets and they offer activities for the whole family. There's a [UNCLEAR], fly ball, terrial trials and lower coursing is popular or site hounds. If you're confined to an apartment or you just can't get outside, remember that you can purchase or create interactive games and toys. There's also Riki, massage and swimming, as well as yoga and K9 dance that are very popular. And just manual manipulation of your pet's joints is a wonderful thing to do, particular with arthritic pets, because not exercising joints or an area of the body affected by arthritis, actually increases the risk of permanent disability in that joint by 1/3. So, don't let anybody tell you not exercise if you've got arthritis. It's truly the other way around. As far as what types of games and activities to choose, remember that cats have personalities just like people. Some cats are shy, sedate, others are riled and curious. And dogs were initially bred to take advantage of their natural instincts. So, choose an activity or game that enhances the natural instincts of your particular pet. And that will end up enhancing your life as well as your pet's. Now, when it comes to treats, remember to feed your pet healthy treats. Vegetables are a great choice. And remember that the best treat of all is your love. It's low-cal and pets love it.

And I didn't know if we've got some viewers on today that might like to ask some questions. There's all kinds of things that I would have liked to mention, but let's see what everyone else has to say.

STEVE: Well, while we are waiting for some of our questions to come in. You folks can type them in at the bottom of the whiteboard and we'll read them off. But, I have one question, going back to specific activities.

DR. CAROL: Okay.

STEVE: Could you give us some specific activities, so that it's not just a general. What do you see in the winter time? We know summer time you can go running, but what about the winter time?

DR. CAROL: Sure, in the summer time you can go run, jogging, rollerblading, you can play ball, you can play Frisbee. You can join a sports club and enjoy all those activities with other people and their pets. As far as inside, let's say, for example, you want to walk up six stairs, take a break, walk up six more stairs, take a break, and then do the same thing going downstairs. Now, as far as games, remember that many pets are stimulated by smell. So, you can create games usually using food as the treat. Hide and go seek and fetch. And there are some fabulous things that are new this year. There's a sight called Dog Tronics, they've got games that stimulates your pet's senses, based on sound, motion and smell that are really terrific. There's another site called, it's called Fit Brain, and they've got a series of brain puzzlers that you can download at no cost online. You can also duplicate those games in your own home. For pets, most of these games, are creative little objects in which different little bones and pieces, toys and treats, if you will, are inserted, and you can scale them up to an increasing level of difficulty, which I thought was extremely interesting and they've got pedometers, which are specifically calculated for pets that are great that will track every mile you walk as well as the calories burned for that given day. Now, there's a new item, and it's called, hang on a second, it's called Fit Bit, and Fit Bit is a very neat little item. It was developed based on the principle of a Nintendo game and it's a little tiny gadget about four inches wide and a couple inches long that is made to clip onto your, let's say, the pocket on your shirt and even your waistband, and they've also got them now so you can snap them right under your dog's collar. And that will monitor every stride that you take, every calorie that you burn, as well as the quality of your exercise, fitness and sleeping. It will give you a chart with specifics that will come right out on your computer all in a calculated format. And what's really neat about it, is it's got a little blue flower and that's the part I like the most, and every time you do or eat something that's healthy that promotes your life and longevity, the flower grows. And when you do something that does not promote your life or longevity, the flower shrinks. And that item is so popular, it's currently being backordered, but I think it's absolutely fabulous. And another thing, a lot of people say, well, if I spade or nuture my pet, he's going to get fat and lazy. Well, a new study just was released, and what they found is not only spading and nuturing your pet reduce their metabolic requirements by about 1/3, which translates into, if your pet is spade or nutured, you need to decrease his calories by about 1/3 so that he doesn't get lazy and chubby. But another very interesting fact that I wanted to share with you, is that this study also showed that nuturing or spading your pets, prior to the age of four, has a negative impact on longevity and wellness and actually increases the incidents of a variety of cancer, for example, memory or breast cancer in pets and osteocircoma, which are bone cancers.

They did a study on a group of rotwillers. And what they found was a 30 percent increase in longevity in a rotweiller that was spade or nutured after the age of four years. So, for those of you that are wanting to avoid the problems that come along with pets and heat cycles, something that you might suggest to your veterinarian, is in a female dog, just doing a hysterectomy, which means that the uterus would be removed, but the ovaries, or the site of estrogen production, would be left intact. And in those animals, as long as, according to the study, with intact ovaries, longevity is increased by 30 percent. And certainly there is a risk of certain reproductive track cancers, but according to this report and according to my personal research, your pet will live longer, healthier and enjoy a much greater state of wellness, A, if you must spade or nuture, [UNCLEAR] reason, and B, for those of you that have already purchased a pet in which they already have been spade or nutured, talk to your veterinarian about natural hormone replacement. These are crèmes that are easily compounded in a variety of compounding pharmacies that you can rub topically on the hairless areas of your pet, be it the inside of the ear or the hairless area of the groin. They are cost effective and worth a world of wellness for your pet.

STEVE: That's terrific, terrific information. Carol, did you, by chance, this week get any mail that you wanted to share with us, because I didn't ask you when we first set up so I don't know if you were prepared for that. But perhaps some of your stories from folks that may have called you this week about their pets. Is there anything like that going on in your life?

DR. CAROL: Well, absolutely. Related to your pet's level of health and wellness, I was talking to a woman whose pet is a diabetic, in fact, it's interesting to note that 2/3 of human and pet diabetics are overweight. So, nipping that problem when you first start to see those sensitive stomachs is a way to help avoid diabetes, and then the list of problems that comes with that. But this particular woman said: My pet is just starving, hungry all day. Well, why would that be? I said to her: How do you know your pet is hungry? It's not like he said Mom I'm starving. Well, she said: Because he's always coming up to me and looking at me with those great big eyes. Remember that every time your pet comes to you, it's not because he's hungry. In many cases, it's because he loves you and he's happy to see you. So, instead of reaching for a snack, give that pet your love. You know, whether it's a belly rub, a good grooming, a massage or you just jump on the sofa and cuddle. That truly is what your pet is seeking. It's not always just a snack. So, so don't think every time your pet walks up to you it's because he's hungry because he's not. And when your pet is hungry, with respect to healthy snacks, remember that fresh vegetables are fabulous and they're just as healthy for your cat as they are for your dog.

We have some interesting things to share with you.

STEVE: We also had a question that came in, and I guess it goes back to a lot of folks are very busy and their jobs, especially many of them who have new jobs and the question came up that we like to promote the idea of cooking fresh for your pets, but sometimes reality is we can't get the time to cook fresh or we certainly want to give them leftovers, so can you give us some thoughts about package foods that might quite acceptable as a supplement?

DR. CAROL: You know, that's an excellent fact and I also wanted to mention that Michelle Obama, who is currently heading up this prevent childhood obesity campaign, for which they have allocated six hundred and fifty billion dollars, which is currently being distributed as grants and they are looking for creative strategies to prevent childhood obesity and to promote wellness and longevity. And Michelle Obama's comment was: You know, everybody's working and we're too busy. The modern lifestyle just doesn't lend itself to healthy diets and healthy eating, so what do we do? Okay. Well, if you're someone who has to live life on the go, you could, for example, pick one day of the week and make your food for the week at that one particular time. Let's say you want to home cook for the dog or your cat, but time is limited. On Sunday, go out to the store and buy a chicken, a great big bag of brown rice and some fresh veggies. Throw it into the Crockpot, cover it up, throw in a bit of Boulin, and by the end of the day you will have enough food to last your pet for the entire week. What will that cost you? It'll cost under ten dollars. So, you can do that not only for your pet, but also for your family. Now, if you're someone who says: That's absolutely out of the question. Then, if you're going to buy a commercially prepared pet foods, look for an organic or natural line. And when you do that, buy food that is just food. In other words, when you look at the ingredients on the bag, the first ingredient should be meat. It shouldn't be meal and it shouldn't be byproducts. If you see that, put it down and go to the next item. For those of you looking to lose weight, a big mistake you make is going out and buying low-calorie pet foods. Many of those low-calorie pet foods are, the base is nothing other than corn. And what happens is, your pet is legitimately hungry. So, if his tummy doesn't get filled up, then he's going to be getting in the trash and sneaking anything he can from anywhere he can find it. So, when we originally talked about how to get your pet to lose weight, one of the biggest mistakes that I see is people just feed one great big meal. That's not what you want to do. Ideally, to keep blood sugar and insulin levels stable, you want to take that daily ration and divide it up into six parts, so you're not feeding six times as much, you're feeding six times as often. And what happens every time we eat, every time we eat, our metabolism is stimulated, that requires energy and burns calories. So, I hope that's a little bit helpful with that. Minimum exercise requirements, even if you could take a twenty minute walk twice a day, that's a great start. And you can increase your level of fitness for yourself and your pet from there. Now, with respect to what's healthy for your pet, what's a healthy lifestyle, how do we prepare a good meal and what do we do about exercise? How about this: That rib check that we talked about, being able to easily see but not feel, that is valid for your pet, it is also valid for yourself, when it comes to your rib cage, it's valid for your children. If you teach your children what's right and what's healthy, when it comes to diet and eating, less time on the computer, less video games, pack healthy lunch, put in some fruits and vegetables and promote exercises. If you teach that to your children, then allow your children to focus on that for their pets. So, in Michelle Obama's six hundred and fifty billion dollar awareness campaign, looking for creative strategies, my creative strategy is why not use pets to help teach children how to live a long, healthy lifestyle? Kids love their pets and most kids will do just about anything to ensure that pet's happiness. So, instead of opening the door at night and just sending the pet outdoors, why not make it a family activity? Why not grab your kids and your pets, you can get a leash, in fact, they've got all kinds of great things out now. They've got leashes that connect right to your belt; they've got those pet pedometers that are calculated specifically for pets; and that other little gadget that I told you about that will calculate your pet's miles, exercise, quality of diet and you can do that for your kids, as well. Why not get up early in the morning? Take a walk around the block with your children and your pets. It'll stimulate your brain and it'll make you feel good. When you exercise, another thing that it does is it lowers cortozyl, which is the stress hormone, which accelerates aging. I thought maybe you said something, Steve?

STEVE: I'm sorry, I did, I was gonna, I was gonna interrupt because I have one more, we're running towards the end of our program, we had one more question relating to vitamins. Now, I know that's something that you know a great deal about. If you could give us two minutes of your thoughts about pet vitamins, as it relates to, if you can't get [UNCLEAR] or if you can't get all those great vitamins from great vegetables, what's your take on that?

DR. CAROL: Okay, that's an excellent question. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much you eat, or how high of a quality diet you eat, you can never eat enough to achieve optimal health and wellness for yourself or your pet. Here's an example: just for your pet to get the minimum daily requirements of vitamin E, it would have to eat 5,000 calories a day. Now, if you fed your pet a diet that consisted of 5,000 calories a day, your pet would quickly become so heavy, that he would then condemned to all the problems that occur with being overweight. And those are just the daily requirements of vitamin E. What a better idea would be, is go out, talk to your veterinarian, or to your family physician and find a balanced multiple vitamin supplement; pet's great examples would be Paw and Vitalife. These vitamins should be water-soluble, USA-made, they should be [UNCLEAR] or mixed with an agent that promotes optimal absorption in that particular pet. And what vitamins and minerals do pets need? Essentially, vitamins A, C and E. The full B complex, because that supplies energy. Adding a little bit of glucosamine and MSM is a wonderful benefit to your pet's joints. Digestive enzymes, amylase, lipase, proteus and lactase are the key elements there. Those facilitate digestion. Elglutamine is the chief amino acid in your intestines that promotes absorption of digestive nutrients. Your Omega 3 fatty acids are a must and a little extra virgin olive oil will do the trick for that.

What are other great nutrients? Probiotics, those are those fuddly bacteria when you see those Activia commercials on television. Those are lactose bacillus and enerococus, for example. Now, you'd have to eat gallons of yogurt to get enough friendly bacteria to actually promote friendly digestion. But if your pet's been on antibiotics or had a bout of vomiting or diarrhea, those probiotics will replace those bad bacteria that form gas and make your pet's belly bloat. So, your key vitamins, your antioxidants, key minerals: selenium, zinc, calcium, magnesium and manganese are the ones to keep in mind. Key antioxidants: co-enzyme Q10 for the heart and lutine for the eyes. Those are your key factors. Fresh, distilled water, minimize stress and have a little fun and play time to promote mental happiness.

I hope that that answered your question.

STEVE: Okay, well, we're going to, yeah, it did, and of course they can look on your site to see if they don't have a regular supply of these vitamins, take a look at Dr. Carol's site and you can find them as well and that can help support all the good work that she's been doing throughout.

DR. CAROL: And I just want to mention one other thing. There's been a rage on vitamin D lately for those of us that live in these colder, winter climates. Remember that there are four fat-soluble vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat-soluble vitamins are not eliminated from your body or your pet's body on a daily basis. They tend to accumulate and cause toxicities. So, just because you see a big news flash or there's a surge of activity or interest in a certain vitamin, in this case, vitamin D, more is not always better because it can accumulate and actually cause more problems then the benefit that it would offer. With respect to vitamin A, vitamin A palmitate is the water-soluble form that you want. Beta Carotine is the fat-soluble vitamin, fat-soluble form, which, again, can lead to toxicities. And for those of you with cats, cats are not able to convert retinal palmitate in the vitamin A. So, one way to screen the supplement is if you see a supplement that says for your cat and you see retinal palmitate on it, it isn't really for your cat. And another thing I'll say quickly: Brewer's Yeast is a very inexpensive form of B vitamins. If you see that on a product, steer clear. And evening primrose oil, which is being added as a source of omega 3 fatty acids, can lead to and potentiate seizures and epilepsies in individuals that are prone. So, when it comes to those omega 3s, the purest form would be DHA and EPA, inexpensive sources would be extra virgin olive oil. And those are just some good things for you to keep in mind.

STEVE: Great. Fabulous. We have, let's see, we have one last piece of business. I'd to comment on. Next week on, with Dr. Carol at the same time on Thursday evening at 6:30, we're going to be talking about travel. And it happens to be Valentine's Day, so we're going to have great tips for your furry valentines, as well as your non-furry valentines.

[LAUGHTER]

STEVE: We hope you enjoyed this show. Please tell your friends all about it. We will be posting the archive, as well. And I thank you again, Dr. Carol, wonderful and informative evening. To all of our guests, see you again on Boomster live and keep coming back to Boomster.com to see the new shows that we'll be posting. And again, tell your friends, because it's all about your friends enjoying and learning as much as we're offering to you. Thanks again, and goodnight to you. Don't forget Dr. Carol [UNCLEAR] browser and away we go. Have a wonderful evening, everybody. Thanks again for coming on. Bye bye and goodnight.

DR. CAROL: And thank you. Goodbye this week, from Dr. Carol.