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Here is the story:http://www.williamsonherald.com/home?id=68417

-Oct. 12, 2009 Interview with Dr. Marc Smith, DVM, Veterinarian and Co-Creator of Pet-Tao Pet Foods in Nashville, TN

Journalist Matt Johnson of The Paradigm Group sat down with Dr. Marc Smith of Natchez Trace Veterinary Services recently to talk about Smith’s pet food company, Pet-Tao Pet Foods, based in Franklin, TN.

Smith and Dr. Casey Damron are the Co-Creators of Pet-Tao, the only integrated, all-natural pet food that combines the science of Western nutrition with the principles of Eastern food therapy. Both Smith and Damron have been practicing veterinarians for over 10 years.

There are three websites with more information about these subjects. First, Smith’s wordpress blog has extensive Veterinary News & Advice and is at www.marcsmithvet.com. Pet-Tao’s website is www.pettao.com. The Natchez Trace Veterinary Services website is www.natcheztracevet.com.

Eastern medicine is based on Taoism. It is holistic, which means it deals with the animal and its relationship with all other things that can influence it- the environment, its lifestyle, what it eats, where it lives and more.

In Eastern veterinary medicine, there are five fundamental branches: food therapy, herbal therapy, acupuncture, Tui-Na, which is massage and chiropractic, and Qi-Gong, which is associated with exercise.

So, food therapy is one of the five, fundamental branches [and Dr. Smith believes it is perhaps the most effective and beneficial of the branches]. So, Eastern veterinarians often employ food to help pets with their ailments and conditions. It’s part of the ‘way’. Anyone who is holistic, natural or who pursues Eastern medicine has a need for our food product, Pet-Tao.

What do you mean by the “way”?

The way things in the natural world behave, and the phenomenon surrounding the way things happen in the natural world, the interactions.

How do things behave in the natural world?

Generally, they behave according to the Five Element Theory and the Theory of Yin and Yang. For example, everything in the natural world has two opposites- hot/cold, good/bad.

You mentioned that Eastern veterinary medicine is based on Taoism. I know it is closely associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine. Can you please further explain these things?

Well, first, the major theories associated with Eastern medicine are the Five Element Theory and the concept of Yin yang.

In the Five Element theory, there are five elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal. Each one promotes and restrains the others. For there to be balance, all of these elements have to be harmonious, with the proper promotion and the restraining.

Certain animals also have these as their personality characteristics. In other words, a fire animal has an emotion of joy associated with it. There is an emotion associated with wood, and so on. The emotion associated with water is fear. There are also certain elements associated with organ systems. This is all pretty complicated. This Five Element Theory is how the animal associates with its environment as well.

That is the basis of Eastern Medicine. I have a lot of this information on my blog at www.marcsmithvet.com. Also, the Pet-Tao website and my practice’s website have good explanations of these general principles as well. Pet-Tao is at www.pettao.com, and my practice’s website is www.natcheztracevet.com.

How do these two theories- the Five Element and Yin Yang- apply to food therapy?

Each fresh food that we are supposed to eat has been designated certain energetic properties that those foods exert when they are digested. Some release heat, some cold, some induce diarrhea, some induce perspiration. So if an animal is showing signs consistent of heat, you want to feed them foods that are cold in nature.

It’s with the energy, which is a hard concept to grasp. What it relates to is how that food behaves in its natural environment. For instance, a deer is always active and hot, so to speak, in its natural environment. Therefore venison is hot. So, an animal that is hot does not want that type of food or a hot food. An example of a cold food would be a fish that lives deep in the water and moves slowly.

What are some of the ‘cold signs’ of a pet?

Cold to the touch, an animal with arthritis. An animal that sits and does not get up, similar to an older person. There are many different diagnoses of arthritis in Eastern Medicine. There is cold, heat, wind, damp and combinations of all.

For example, with arthritis, when someone’s joints get stiff because of impending rain, that phenomenon is an Eastern concept. You get a change in the environment, storms are approaching, the environment is damp, so you eat things that will drain the “damp” out of you.

Can you explain the different Pet-Tao diets?

On the balanced diet, you eat things from all the five main elements of the Five Element Theory (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). On a prescription diet, you may only eat things from three of the elements to re-establish the balance.

Processed foods are not even in the game. That is a western concept.

Balanced diet?

The balanced diet is balanced on the principles of hot-cold, which is more of the yin-yang theory. Yin is cold, yang is hot. We have the same amount of cold foods with the same amount of hot foods. In true Chinese terms, balanced food would be from every one of the five elements. And if you truly got down to it, you eat according to the seasons. So, in the summertime you eat cold foods and in the wintertime you eat hot foods. That is the true theory of holism, because the external environment is influencing things on the animal. So, you eat things to counteract what the external environment is placing on the animal.

How did you decide to do this?

We are intrigued with the theories behind Eastern Medicine. We also wanted to fill a niche. Instead of taking a lot of foods and putting them together randomly, we wanted to put a lot of thought into why we are combining the ingredients we are combining. Eastern medicine explains this.

How did you know there is a demand?

We’ll see about the demand.

Generally, when you prescribe a dietary regime, owners want to pursue that, but it is challenging to procure the ingredients, to cook the food and so forth. So the niche we’re trying to fill is take that out of the equation, and they can order directly from us or through their veterinarian or pet supply store.

Procuring certain foodstuffs and putting them into a diet is very hard. For example, it’s hard for people to buy beef kidney and beef rumen. So, we found a way to do it. We found a way to mix the food so the pets like it and enjoy it. So that was one of the driving forces for us to create PetTao.

Please tell me about the early stages of Pet-Tao.

The first thing we did was formulate the diets. Then we had them tested. We formulated them where they would be balanced according the theories of Eastern medicine. We tested them according to Western standards. We modified it depending on the Western test results.

We went over the energetics of the foods. Then we combined them. Our end product was really not far off from the Western scientific standards of adequate nutrition. We sent the product to NPAL and A&L Laboratory in Memphis, TN, for nutritional testing. This developmental process took about one year. We also hired a Nutritional Consultant as well, Larry Prewitt in St Louis. He helped us with some of the initial science behind the products. We found him through the Pet Food Institute, who knows about consulting nutritionists and so forth. Dr. Shen Xie also consulted with us in the process.

How did you know there was not a product like this already?

Between us we have about 20 years of veterinary experience and a lot of experience with nutrition, and neither of us had seen anything like this. There are many types of diets. There are raw food diets. There are some other more premium diets which combine the major food groups. But there is nothing that we know of that has a reason why those ingredients are in the diet. They just do it. We wanted to have a reason why they are in there, and food therapy allows us to have a reason based on the energetics of the food according to Eastern medicine..

Please summarize your veterinary practice in terms of what you work on.

My vet practice is 70% small animal, 30% horse work. Out of that 70%, 70% of that is conventional medicine and 30% is integrative medicine. Integrated is where you have two options for treatment; you have straight western medicine and then you have eastern medicine. I try to combine Eastern and Western in those 30% of patients, usually because the owner is interested in it. And we combine it in order to enhance the health of those patients and minimize the risk and side effects of using traditional Western medicine, drugs.

With horses, we do some diagnostic and treatment acupuncture as well as geriatric acupuncture. However it is harder to feed horses according to the theories of Eastern food therapy.

How do people learn about Eastern veterinary medicine as an option for their pets?

That is one thing that is hard. Some do not know it is an option. Others extrapolate it from their own health care. People are more open to different theories and options. Western medicines are potent, but anytime you increase the potency, you increase the risk of side effects. Eastern medicine may not be as potent, but there are no side effects to the medicine.

Pets are more receptive to Eastern medicine than people. First, pets are more adaptable with their health problems. I mean that on a couple of levels. First, they are able to adapt with pain and disease better. It is something that is ingrained and innate in them. Two, they are not receptive to mass marketing like people are.

Second, the dog is going to eat what you give them. They do not have a lot of choice in what they eat.

How did you come to realize the great benefits of Eastern veterinary medicine?

I was a big skeptic. Part of that was that I had learned one way to do things, in vet school. Then I saw some things work, and I did not believe it. I had clients ask me about it. I didn’t have the credibility to answer them the way I needed to answer them. So, I went to school to learn more about it, at the Chi Institute in Florida, from an academic standpoint. I realized that Eastern medicine has its place as part of the whole medical model. Food is the make or break. The old quote, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” That is what Hippocrates said.

Would you say food is the most important of the five branches?

Yes, I would.

Would you rank them in a rough order?

Well, it depends on what you are talking about. But I think food is probably the most potent treatment.

What did you see work?

Three years ago, I saw some animals that acupuncture worked on. When I learned the theory behind it, I thought there is no way it cannot work.

Please summarize herbal therapy.

You get a diagnosis, and then you take the herbal medicines. They are all formulas, not single herbs. A formula is where you have anywhere from 4-20 herbs mixed in different amounts. These formulas have been studied through history and time of 3,500 years, to treat certain Eastern medical diagnoses.

Do you use herbal therapy?

Yes, on every patient I can use it on. It has more of an impact that acupuncture on treatment in true Eastern medicine. You give capsules. I order them from Dr. Xie at the Chi Institute. He gets them from China.

How would you compare Western and Eastern medicine?

Both Western and Eastern medicine have certain strengths and weaknesses. I think Western has certain strengths over Eastern, and Eastern has certain strengths over Western. My goal is to integrate them to offer the strengths of both while minimizing the weaknesses of both.

Please discuss these differences further.

With Eastern medicine, I think as a general rule, if it is practiced appropriately, the risk of doing harm is zero. You can use it in conjunction with western medicines to get a heightened effect. The acupuncture does something to an animal’s emotional state, I don’t know what and I don’t think anybody knows. But there is definitely a pretty pronounced relaxation status that happens in 90% of patients once they have received acupuncture. So it can relieve stress and anxiety. It gives animals a heightened sense of well-being. And western medicines don’t do that.

In Western medicine, you have surgery, and Eastern does not recognize surgery. You have better diagnostic tools many times. You have a quicker, more pronounced effect from certain medicines. But remember, there is also the risk of side effects.

It’s real common for an older animal with bad arthritis to come in with liver compromise or kidney compromise. What do you do? Do you put the pet on western medicine and risk sending it to renal failure and have to put it to sleep? Or, do you try the pet on an herbal medicine, give him some relief from his arthritis, but not risk renal failure and having to put him to sleep?

What is the cost difference?

Herbals cost probably a third of western medicines.

Please list the five main problems you and other veterinarians see?

Skin problems, obesity, arthritis, periodontal disease and allergies.

When did you realize that diet greatly impacts these and other diseases and conditions?

Well, that of course is a given. Typically, the dog or cat that is suffering has chronic allergies, poor skin and hair coat and is overweight. Most dogs have these problems, and cats have them too. It is from poor diet and overfeeding of the owners. This is no different from the human population.

When did you realize that diet is so important?

I was taught that in vet school. But I did not understand that the actual food components of the commercial food were a contributing factor too.

How did you find that out?

I learned that when I learned more about nutrition and pets. I noticed that the bulk of dry foods are made up of things animals were not intended to eat in the first place-refined grains, additives, preservatives. I cannot believe something can be healthy that sits in a bag in a closet for two years.

What percentage of dog/cat owners feed their pets this dry dog food?

Probably 99%! Again, dogs are adaptable. A lot of dogs will live despite what you are feeding them. But are they flourishing? Are they feeling their best? Are they living the longest? How much longer would they live if they had the appropriate diet?

Have you found some pet foods that are at least better than the dry food?

Some are better than others. And yes, there are some good ones out there. But again, what is a good food? Is it a food the dog lives on? Is it a food the dog lives on and has no health problems? Or is it a food that promotes health and promotes a feeling of well-being, and keeps the animal skinny and active and thriving for its whole life? That to me is a good food. Someone can live a long time eating a poor diet, but how much longer would you live eating a diet that is balanced and nutritious. And how much better a quality of life would you have as well.

Please tell me your opinion on conventional pet foods!

I don’t think any commercial foods in a bag are good. I don’t think they can be. Those foods are made to satisfy our lifestyles, not the pets’ health. They are inexpensive and have a long shelf life. I think there are some canned foods that are okay. Many dog foods are produced by big companies that are marketing to the masses. Vets will tell you those foods are good, just like I used to do, because I was a victim of their good marketing.

There is a big movement toward fresh-feeding foods, natural foods, and feeding human grade ingredients to pets based on what pets evolved eating. Basically they evolved eating meat and some vegetables. A lot of people are getting back to that as opposed to Westernized way of eating, which includes food in a bag laden with additives and preservatives.

What victim?

I was a victim. That’s the way the pet food industry works. They train these veterinarians, because they are at all the vet schools, they give out free bags of food, and they are training you and brainwashing you while you are in vet school to recommend their foods. And you have never really critically critiqued why- why the food is recommended and so forth.

How did you choose the ingredients and amounts?

We determined by what an animal eats in the wild; by intuition; by experience; by the amount of nutrients an animal needs and the portions we need to put in the diet to meet those needs. 60/20/20- 60% protein, 20% carbs, 20% fats as a rough estimate!