How Corporate Vet Clinics Drive Costs And What Pet Parents Can Do

We trace how private equity now shapes vet care, why costs keep rising, and how to protect your pet with raw nutrition, informed consent, and better questions. Practical tips reveal what to remove from the bowl, how to spot upsells, and where to find independent help.

• pool safety with step training for dogs
• why raw feeding prevents chronic inflammatory issues
• foods to avoid for carnivores including pumpkin daily, potatoes, rice, beans, tuna
• free raw diet consults and building a species-appropriate plan
• consolidation of vet clinics by private equity and price inflation
• standardized protocols that prioritize profit over health
• ER cost realities and lack of patient choice
• finding independent vets and verifying ownership
• informed consent and tests that change treatment
• telemedicine pitfalls with drug-first platforms
• fraud, rising prices, and voting with your wallet
• how to set boundaries and advocate for your pet

Find out how you can start your dog on the road to health and longevity. Go to raw dogfoodandcompany.com, where friends don’t let friends feed kibble, and where your pets health is our business.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold Plunge Dog And House Moves
• 2:30 Pool Safety And Training The Steps
• 4:40 Diet Mistakes And What To Remove
• 7:50 Free Consults And Building Better Raw Diets
• 9:40 Why Vet Costs Are Exploding
• 12:20 Private Equity Ownership And Protocols
• 16:10 Markups, Upsells, And ER Sticker Shock
• 19:20 How Consolidation Changes Care
• 22:10 Finding Independent Vets And Asking Smart Questions
• 26:00 Informed Consent And Testing That Changes Care
• 29:10 Telemedicine Caveats And Drug-First Platforms
• 31:10 Fraud, Rising Prices, And Who Pays
• 35:10 Vote With Your Dollar And Support Local
• 38:20 Boundaries, Honesty, And Real-World Costs
• 41:10 Take Back Control Of Your Pet’s Care
• 43:00 Where To Get Help And Final Sign-Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Oh, snaps, snaps. Well, hello, raw feeders. I'm Dee Dee Mercer Moffat, CEO of a raw dog food and company. Where your pet's health is our business, and we're friends like my friend, Dr. Judy Jasik. Oh, she didn't let friends feed kibble or crappy raw diets either. How are you this morning, Dr. Jasik? Good. A little chilly, chilly and damp.

SPEAKER_00: 0:20

It's chilly and damp here. That's like cold rain. It's like mid-30s and rainy.

unknown: 0:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 0:25

So it's kind of winter in Tennessee, but it's okay. The winter doesn't last very long here. So we can we can put we finally got enough boxes unpacked that we could actually pull our cars in the garage. So because you get some ice here, you know, it drops just below freezing and everything gets icy. So it'd be really nice to have to scrape windshields. So that's that's gonna feel pretty luxurious. We haven't had a uh like an actual garage since we left Colorado. We had a carport in our last place, which was nice. I mean, that helps, you know. Um, but it wasn't attached to the house, so you still had to like, you know, walk in the rain and stuff to get to it. So we're we're moving, we're moving on up now.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00

So yesterday, um, Lazie did a cold plunge and then she she didn't hear pool. She didn't mean yeah, it was so it was that Rick was not happy about it, but I mean, look, dogs know how to swim. But she was she was barking at the dog on the other side of us, and and she she backed up and just fell right in the pool. And her nails came up. She was like, I think she could have pulled herself all the way up, but I just grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her out. And so like okay, she could have swum. Yeah, so she was just happened to be on the one side that there wasn't a step, right? And so my brother said, Look, he's been training dogs forever for she's hunting dogs, right? Yeah, and so he's like, Here's what you do you you just carry her out to the pool, have her stay where the steps are, and put her in the pool, and then he calls her over to the step. And he said, You do that twice, she will never forget where the steps are. Oh, should be a smart idea. Yeah, he's like, dogs are super smart. He said, Unlike people, they don't make the same mistake twice, typically. I said, twice. That's all you make a mistake, the same mistake over and ever. I tend to have made it quite a few times. The same way, it can be a slow learner sometimes. Yeah. Hey, speaking of mistakes, you know, listen, home diets can be a huge mistake, Dr. JC. And I'll tell you another thing that can be a huge mistake are allergy tests. We've talked a lot about those. Um, we really do want to encourage our listeners that number one, not to do an allergy test. I mean, unless you have done everything possible. And what do we mean by everything possible? We mean stop putting toxins in your dog's body, look at a homeopathic solution, and stop putting um things that a dog or a cat doesn't need. And what some of those things are for certain are they don't need pumpkin every day for sure. It's high in sugar. They definitely don't need potatoes of any sort. They don't need sweet or white, okay, or yammies or anything like that. And they don't need rice, guys, and they don't need tuna. Okay. So I was just looking at somebody's diet today that they were doing for their dog. And I hate to offend people. So I just kind of say, listen, this is my recommendation based on years and years of nutritional consults and what we see and what we know. Um, but but definitely you got to take out beans and green beans. I mean, if you want to put a few in there, okay. But I just don't see beans as a protein source a good option for carnivore, guys. And certainly tuna, tuna, high in heavy metals. So um we can help you with the diet. That's what we do here at Raw Dog Food and Company. Remember, Brian is waiting for you patiently. It's just sign up and he's gonna help you. Okay. And Brian loves this stuff. So he even though it says 20 minutes, it'll probably be more like 60. Okay. It's totally free. We'll get you on a good diet. Um, on that note, Dr. Jasak, we definitely are seeing massive, massive fraud in the world. We'll come back to that in a second. But the and and how it affects your pricing in the in the raw, in the pure raw, in the good food for your animals. Um, but then another place that we really you know talk about a lot, Dr. Jason, are these prices in the veterinary clinic. So if if you think you can't afford a raw diet, I can assure you you cannot afford a sick dog to go into the veterinary world. Dr. Jasak, why why are the prices so astronomical for going into the vet's office?

SPEAKER_00: 4:54

Because the the clinics, most of them are corporate or good number. I bet more than half. I don't know the exact percentage, but I would bet these days more than half are bought up by these big corporations, which are run by these big private equity companies, and they're only interested in one thing. And that's the bottom line. Because the prices in recent years, they've gone up by multiples. I mean like tripled. And it doesn't cost them, it does not cost them that much more to do these procedures. I see some of these prices, surgeries that I used to do, and they're like 10 times what I used to charge. Like, okay, everything goes up in price. I can understand that, but going up by multiples, that's just greed, it pure and simple. And as you know, you can take your pet into the ER, and I hear this all the time. You go in the ER for anything, five to ten grand. You can almost count on something like if they, especially if they have to stay or they do testing, it's ridiculously expensive. So people don't have insurance. Um, you know, you better, you know, have some money, have some money socked away. And they also don't give people choices. They don't say, well, this is the most expensive approach, we can do this, but we could also do this approach. It's the most expensive approach or euthanasia. Those are your choices. So that's why doing what keeps your pet healthiest at home and understanding how to keep your pet healthy is so important because you gotta stay out of the world of veterinary medicine. That's what I tell people. Don't take your pet in unless it's obviously hurt or bleeding, broke a leg, or you know, seriously ill. Um, but yeah, like feeding raw is like an insurance policy, right? You absolutely it is. Feed them raw, you invest a little more. It's like, you know, you pay insurance on your home, or if you're renting, you pay renters' insurance so that if something happens, you're covered. But to me, it's like you're preventing so many illnesses from happening, like GI issues and the itchy skin and uh any inflammatory condition, you're preventing all of that from happening by feeding raw. So why wouldn't you do it? I don't know. To me, it should be just like a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_02: 7:15

Absolutely. So I was doing some uh research on why are private equity firms buying veterinary clinics? Why are they doing that? And what I found out was that it has dramatically um increased over the last decade. And why? Because they find that veterinary services are considered non-discretionary spending for our pet parents. So people generally prioritize health care. I wish they would prioritize their food as much, but they prioritize health care for pets even during economic times. Um, so the pet industry overall has been growing steadily. Um, Americans spend, Dr. J. Seek, about 140 billion annually on pets. That's what they spent in 2024. And so this cash flow, this amount of money is very, very appealing to private equity firms because one, it's predictable and it's less volatile than other um sectors out there. And so um, you know, tens of thousands of small independently owned clinics um are being gobbled up. And it's a huge growth potential for these private equity firms. And I think what we also see is an opportunity for them to consolidate the clinics. You know, we were talking about that. And so what they do is they create these regional networks and they begin to gain market share very, very quickly. And once they consolidate these clinics, then their economies of scale change. So, what do they get to do? They get to bulk purchase of supplies, standardize their protocols, not a good thing as far as we can see. And then they centralize all of their administrative um stuff. So they really, really do begin to profit uh exponentially off of these purchases. Now, did you hear me say anything, Dr. Jasek, about how that improves the health of the pet?

SPEAKER_00: 9:36

Right, right. They're no concern about the health of the pet. And the the protocols that they so the vets that get into these places, they're required, they have to use the protocols that the clinic they're at says, you know, this comes in, this is why they have to diagnose. They have to name something. When they name something, this is the acceptable protocol. The protocols are not about making the pets healthy, they're about what's going to make the most money and what's most profitable, what's a markup? That's why they push vaccines so much, because there's like, you know, a vaccine costs a veterinarian probably three to five dollars. That's their out-of-pocket cost to buy it. And they're charging what,$30 or$40 for a vaccine. That's a huge, huge markup. So they're looking at the procedures that are the most profitable, and they're telling the vets, okay, you work here, this condition comes in, this is what you need to recommend. Then the vets are also working on a percentage of production too. So they're in, they're incentivized to you know, to sell this stuff. It's it's really evil because it's killing pets, it's murdering pets. It's it's literally murdering pets. And I would say that if if you are in an area where you can find a solo practitioner and just call them up and ask, hey, are you guys owned by a corporation? You know, this the receptionist should be able to tell you, or are you? Because sometimes it's hard to know because they don't always put like BCA or Blue Pearl or something out there. They might keep the same name. They're just owned by a big corporation. Those clinics would be will be more willing to work with you. If you want to go in and say, hey, you know, I don't really want to vaccinate my dog, will you see me, you know, without that? They'd be more willing to work with you than a corporation, like they got their rules, and that's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 11:28

The the the private equity group, their goal is to maximize revenue per patient and reduce operational cost. And they said that many times this is at the expense of veterinarian autonomy, which is what you just said. You know, they're that they have this. And the other reasons that um that these private equity firms love this is because it ebita uh or ebitah, yeah. So that's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. So they can resell, they can resell these consolidated groups that they've you know bought up, and they can resell them for high multiples just after a few years, like five years or so. So um their clinics, these good clinics um with strong cash flow and loyal client bases, those are their prime targets. And so they say that that what this leads to uh is that it causes pressure on veterinarians to upsell treatments, upsell treatments that what your dog really needs. Um, they say it also reduces, so combine these two, Dr. JC. It pressures the veterinarians to upsell treatments and it reduces the autonomy in care decisions. Now that sounds about as good of an idea as it was to incentivize doctors to give COVID vaccines.

SPEAKER_00: 13:12

Right, right. So what that means is the vets have no choice in what they're doing. They're they're automatons, they're like robots. Maybe that's where they're going. They could just put a robot in there and say, for this condition, these symptoms, you just, you know, plug the symptoms into AI and say, this is the condition and this is how you treat it. And they're just automatons. That's probably why the suicide rate's so high in veterinary medicine, because it's it's not fulfilling. How could it be fulfilling to work that way? But they, you know, they need a paycheck in their corporate jobs, so they get benefits and pay time off and all that stuff. So it's attractive, especially if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in in school debt. But I don't I don't know how they how the vets can do it though long term. I mean, to me, I feel like I was selling my soul.

SPEAKER_02: 13:59

Well, and they say the turnover is huge, right? So maybe you get even less caring vets, right? You've got this big turnover, the ones that have a soul, and they're like, this isn't right. You know, okay, so you just brought in this new ultrasound machine. So I'm supposed to upsell this many when I see a little crack or a little opening that somebody may need an ultrasound for their pet, then I'm supposed to say it. And it's just like these diets, Dr. Jason, that I see coming out of, you know, veterinary clinics, like the one I just talked about a second ago. People just believe that. They're just like, okay, well, they don't know. I'm not saying that people are stupid. Um, what I'm saying is that you're supposed to be able to trust your healthcare professionals. So they tell you these things and you just have to believe them and spend the money. And I don't know what people are doing that do not have the money to pay for what do you think an ultrasound costs these days?

SPEAKER_00: 15:14

Well, clients are telling me it's like$800 or something like that to do an ultrasound. I mean, that's double what like I used to, when I had an on-site practice in Colorado, we had a mobile radiology service that would come in and do it. And I think we were charging around$400. But from what I hear, it's easily, easily doubled. And you know, that's the other thing about these private equity companies, is well, I know a lot of them own these prescription diets too, the diet companies like Roa Keenan and Hills. I think they're owned by these companies. So they're, of course, they're promoting those products because then, you know, again, that's another income stream. But I bet they they've got a hand in the probably in the pharmaceutical industry and in the labs. I think they push all this work because I bet they're investing, so they do a lot of stuff in-house. So they're probably invested in the companies making those lab machines that they so they can run blood work and do ultrasounds and x-rays and mri's and ct scans, all that machinery. I bet they're invested in those companies too. I bet they're invested in in all of it. And so it's like you were saying, they just get money coming in from all these all these different angles. And I don't think people can't afford it. You know, they either like are maxing out their credit cards or they euthanize. It's really tragic to think how many pets are euthanized because people can't can't afford it. I I have a friend that works at a ER in Knoxville, and she was telling me that she's a tech. And she was telling me that, you know, they had somebody come in, dog was seizuring, and I don't know, they gave it, I gave them a quote, multiple thousand dollars to work it up or whatever, they couldn't afford it. So they just sent it out the door. It didn't even help. And you could do something simple, you could give it a simple prescription at least, or something to stop the seizures. You could do a simple physical exam. You could do something for a hundred bucks to help a dog like that and still make money. Um, but they but they won't do it, they won't do it.

SPEAKER_02: 17:18

No, and and what it's saying is that these that these private equity companies, these corporate companies, they're charging at least 20% more than an independent would. And that's across the board on vaccines, dentals, any kind of procedures. But they're also what the big thing is in these corporately owned clinics is like what we're saying, it's the upselling of these diagnostic test and elective procedures. And um they package it so that it maximizes the revenue per patient. So, what are we saying here? We're saying that tests and procedures are being done that don't need to be done. They're just packaged so that the private equity firms can make as much money as possible per dog or cat or horse or ferret or whatever else is going in there. And that that these vets are being pressured to add additional treatments or package deals, right? And um, so it is it is it is tragic. It is tragic. And so what are we saying? We're saying you gotta stay out of there, you gotta stay out of there until this thing turns around. And I don't know what's gonna happen. I I don't know what's gonna happen because you they're requiring vets to work longer hours. Um, they have fewer support staff per vet. Okay. Um and so they've got increased burnout. So uh that I mean that kind of system can only last.

SPEAKER_00: 19:03

It's not it's it can't it's not sustainable, it just can't it can't possibly be um sustainable. So maybe that'll happen. They'll they'll just they'll crumble because these private equity companies, as soon as they stop making money in a certain you know, area, they'll just move on to something else, they'll just pull the rug out. So, and and I heard I was telling you earlier that I was actually listening to a podcast just this morning, Catherine Austin Fitz, and she was saying that the companies that these private equity companies are funding are going bankrupt because they come in and they just make as much money as they can as fast as they can, but they're not looking at a sustainable business model. It's just they're like vampires. They just get in there and they just extract as much as they can as fast as they can, and then they move on to the next company. They don't care. These companies go out of business. They're that greedy and that evil.

SPEAKER_02: 20:00

So I was asking the question uh in my research about, you know, how do pet parents avoid these clinics? How do they how do they avoid these? And it was saying that there are distinct corporate brands. Okay, so these are the ones that are very identifiable, Dr. JC. Mars, so that's going to be bandfilled. So your bandfills, your VCA animal hospitals, your national veterinary associations, uh associates, it's called. Um PetVet is one of them, and MedVet is another one. Okay. Um, also, you guys, you can check clinic websites um where they should list their ownership information, and you can look in that about section. Um, you're gonna look at the clinic name, the ownership, um, or it might even say clinic name and then private equity. So you and and then you want to also look at articles. So look at news articles, do a research on a clinic that you're gonna go to and see if there's any press releases that indicate corporate acquisition. Um, and you can look on Facebook, next door, all that kind of jazz. And then it's cough clinic. Ask them, you know, is this yeah, is this clinic independently owned, or is it part of a, you know, a big conglomerate or a larger network? Or, you know, they I don't know if you said private equity, they they may not know what to say, but you know, ask them who owns the practice. And then a really, really critical question, Dr. JC, is are treatment decisions made locally by veterinarians or corporate management? Like if I decide that I don't want to do something in this package in your deal, do I have that option to say no? Or are you gonna sit me out the door and say, well, we're just not gonna do anything for you?

SPEAKER_00: 22:12

Another question is uh do your veterinarians practice informed consent? Like, meaning they should sit down with you and go through every item. Like they're recommending a procedure, and I don't care if it's a vaccine, or they're gonna take your pet in the back and take an x-ray. They should sit down with you and they should go over the pros and cons, the reasons they're doing it, because they just recommend stuff and people are worried about their pet, and the butt could come with like a bunch of tests and stuff. We need to do all this stuff, and they're like, okay, go ahead. I just want my pet better. They should be going through and explaining everything they're doing and why they're doing it. And even if you don't know the specifics about the medical part, I think your common sense will tell you. If they're giving you reasons that just like, okay, but that doesn't have anything to do with what's going on with my pet. I think your common sense will tell you. And if you call them on that and they're stumbling over their answers, you know when people are are telling the truth and they're up front or they're just trying to pull something over on you. And they all should be, I mean, any practice code I've ever read, I haven't read all of them, but I've read a number of them in the United States, they all speak to some aspect of informed consent, meaning these veterinarians are obligated by their license to inform you of it's isn't just this is just simple medical ethics. You explain the procedures you're recommending and what the cost is and what's the benefit to the to the pet. And then if we find out this, you know, does it change? And another great question when it comes to testing is well, does that change our treatment options? Because a lot of times they can run all these tests, but they're gonna treat your pet exactly the same. And they've just run up a big bill without really providing any more um useful information. So I'd I'd be asking a lot of questions, which is hard when you're pet sick, but you kind of got to be prepared. If you know this stuff ahead of time, have your list of have them written down because when you're upset because you're pet sick, you might not um remember because we get kind of get we forget things when we're afraid, and that's natural, but you know, have them written down and go in and and ask. And if you have a like you can find a smaller clinic, make make an appointment to go in and just talk to them before you're pet sick. Just pay for an office visit. Just say, I want to go in and come in and meet the vet and ask your questions, like things that are important to you about informed consent and vaccines and how they roll, and then you'll have an idea how they operate before you really need them, and then you go in and you're afraid.

SPEAKER_02: 24:53

Yeah. Um, the other thing too, and one thing I love about what you do, it is telemedicine. Okay. So I think a great way, and and I think you have the services, correct me if I'm wrong. A great way would be if if somebody was getting ready to go in to the to the vet or you know, have to have a hands-on experience. Can you guys um consult with them on how and what they might look for? You know, kind of the questions that they might ask prior to going into that corporate clinic. If you found out that the place that you use is a private equity firm, can you consult with folks on that? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 25:37

We can, you know, we could go over like what's going on with the pet, and then I can say, okay, these are the things they should be looking for. These are the tests they should be doing. They should be addressing like the pet parents' biggest concern. I I was telling you this story earlier about a client I just talked to this week, and they the pet had some blood coming from its back end, and she wasn't sure where, took the dog in. And they were focused on some lumps that the dog had that, you know, we addressed on the call, but they never addressed the the blood. Like, was it coming, you know, from the colon? Was it an abscessed anal gland? I said, did they even look back there or do it digital? Normally, you see blood back there, you you know, stick your finger up their bum and check their anal glands, make sure there's not a mask growing there. They did nothing. Nothing. They didn't even check the the main concern that the pet parent was going in for. So, yeah, knowing which questions to ask and which things that they should be doing and things that they don't need to be doing, um, absolutely, you could help with that.

SPEAKER_02: 26:49

Now, I want to make this clear online veterinary clinics take you out of the mix, Dr. JC. But there are many of these organizations like Dutch, Investor, uh, or Vetster, and Televates, these are all owned by private equity companies, guys. So understand that that just because they are a Televat does not mean that they are not still under that structure that we talked about, right? It's upsell, upsell. Um, and again, private equity firms, the name of the game is buy low, sell high. That's what they do. They make money. That's what they do. They do it on everything, they're doing it on housing, they're doing it on, you know, the but it, but it's not good for your pets. It's not good for your pets. So um, Dr. Jasic is not corporately owned. Um, yeah, it's a small group, so you are very, very safe there.

SPEAKER_00: 27:53

Yeah, yeah, those online companies, those are I I, you know, one of them actually Tucker Carlson promotes on his podcast. So I went in and looked it up, you know, because he always says what I think it's Dutch. Is it Dutch that he promotes? Yeah, it's Dutch. And and that, you know, he's dog lover and everything. And it was all it's all about, you know, save the trip to the vet and blah blah blah. But then I go on their site and it's just all the drugs. It's just all the same, all the same drugs, the you know, ApoQuil and all these things that we recommend against. And they're not even doing an exam. They're just okay, which drugs can we sell? And you and you better believe that those vets are trained to sell probably as many drugs as they can. They're not doing testing or anything, so they're making their money selling the pharmaceuticals.

SPEAKER_02: 28:43

It's crazy. It is absolutely crazy. And and you know, another crazy thing, and and you guys have probably been hearing about this uh in the um, you know, in the news, is all of this fraud that's happening in all of these programs, um, Dr. Jasek. And I I'm talking about Medicare, I'm talking about SNAP, I'm talking about Medicaid. Um there's so much fraud, waste, improper money moving around. And it it is a huge, huge concern. You know, a lot of us just tune out and go, well, there's nothing I can do. Well, I think there is something that you can do. Um, you can talk to, you know, the people that are in charge in your state. And fraud gets passed to the consumer. It always gets when when all of this money is just you know being taken, or um, we don't know where it goes, and they're coming up with all of this fraud that's happening, it is going into your it is costing you. It's costing you it's it's nothing is for free. So if cost of goods get higher and higher because there's so much fraud going on, and we're talking billions, okay. Um 100 billion dollars, right, has been attributed to Medicare and Medicaid alone, right? Um, and so all of this fraud cost us.

SPEAKER_00: 30:27

It cost us. The consumer always pays. Always pays. A company loses money, government loses money, they you know, you get charged more fees, more taxes, more whatever. It always gets passed downstream.

SPEAKER_02: 30:44

Yeah. So I do think, I do think um that we we have to be concerned about it. We we have to look, you might as well say somebody is just stealing from you, Dr. Jasak. I mean, because that is what it is.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

That's what that's what fraud is, right? It's somebody typically making money in a dishonest way. And if you're making money in a dishonest way, you're usually taking it from somebody else. Exactly. Support your local businesses, you know, like you guys, you know. Um, you know, I I love here, I we actually our farmer's market here is still going on, it's year-round, and there people sit out there in the cold. Um, and and you know, because it's Tennessee, some people have greenhouses and stuff, and they'll grow produce and stuff. So I can go there and I always support our local producers. I pay cash, so it saves them the credit card fees because every little bit matters. I mean, if you think every sale, you know, what you know, two and a half, three percent. And we use credit cards because we're online. I mean, that's how our clients pay us. But you know, we we you companies, businesses pay a lot in credit card fees, and that's that can be a big chunk on a real small business. Um, big that could be a big chunk of their income that's I mean big expense for them every month. So, you know, take care of your local, don't support the corporations. Vote, vote with your dollar. You know, I listen to Joel Soliton a lot, the regenerative farmer, and he says, you know, if you want to hurt a company like Tyson, these big chicken manufacturers, he said, you start buying from your local producers. He's like, we don't need more government intervention or anything, and that isn't gonna work anyway, because these big companies in the government are, I think, are all in bed together anyway. They're buying the these companies come in and lobby and they get the laws passed that they want, but vote with your dollar, buy from your local farmer, support the small vet. Maybe you got to drive a little further, maybe you got to drive 45 minutes to go to a local vet that's not corporately owned. Go see them because they're competing with these big companies, and that's hard on the small companies, just like you know, you guys, Dee Dee. You know, you want to support the companies that are trying to stay independent and are not gonna sell out to these big companies. So I think voting with your dollar can make a real big difference.

SPEAKER_02: 33:22

Absolutely. And you know, I was looking at where they were saying that some studies estimate that areas with these high snap fraud incidents, those areas are going to see higher grocery prices. And they said, particularly in the fresh produce or meat. Now that's real food, right? You got the SNAP programs that they're paying for, that they, you know, maybe not the best food on that program, then they need to change that. But you're gonna see higher grocery prices in the real fresh produce or meat area. And the other thing about fraud is that when fraud is committed, Dr. J Sig, fighting fraud, fighting fraud is something that we don't think about, adds significant overhead. So you talk about you've now got a monitor, you've got to audit, you've got enforcement, you've got technology upgrades. So it's not a small thing. It is a huge thing when we hear about fraud, and it is something that is coming out of your pocketbook, and it's going to cause all of us in in the world, you know, higher prices. So we need to really do what we can to say, hey, I'm not okay with with people stealing from me. I'm not okay. And that doesn't make you a bad person. You know, that's sort of like I have heard this before. Um, it's not my view, but I have heard it. Hey, somebody came in and stole from me. Well, that's okay because they must have needed it. Right. I've heard that one. Yeah, well, I'm not okay with that. You know, um I I just am not okay. I it's sort of like this. I had a neighbor who every time their yard man came, they would blow the leaves and it would come over, just tons of leaves, come over and go into my back um area after I've already raked up all my leaves. And so I said, Hey, can you get your yard guys to um not uh blow the leaves from your yard into my yard? And she said, Well, I've never had anyone complain before. I said, Okay, but I'm complaining now. I'm complaining now, and and her response to me was this Well, what am I supposed to do?

SPEAKER_00: 36:08

I said, Teach your guys to blow it differently or rake it, or you can have them come over and clean up the the leaves that are which should just be common sense from a yard company that you don't blow it into somebody else's yard, you're cleaning up somebody's yard and you just blow it into somebody, they should be like vacuuming them up. If the houses, you know, are kind of close together, they should just be sucking them up, you know, in a vacuum.

SPEAKER_02: 36:32

Like, does that make any sense? Because nobody's ever complained before, and because you don't know what else to do, that'd be like me going and dumping my trash next door and saying, Hey, nobody's ever complained about me doing it before. That should be all right then, right?

SPEAKER_00: 36:50

I mean, let Lasi go over there and poop in their yard or something, like nobody's complained before.

SPEAKER_02: 36:57

But this is kind of the the we have been programmed to not complain because it might upset somebody. And I'm like, well, it's upsetting me that your stuff is coming into my yard, and it upsets me that these fraud programs are costing me more money to eat well, to take care of myself, and then take care of my dog, and then I've got to go into the private equity firms that are going to upsell me and have a package, and their only agenda is to make money. Yeah, that upsets me.

SPEAKER_00: 37:34

Yeah, stealing stealing's never okay. Oh, come on, Dr. J-Z. Stealing's, yeah, never okay. And you know what? If somebody came up to you and said, Didi, you know, I'm having kind of a rough month, could you help me out a little bit? I bet you would in a heartbeat because they asked. But if they sneak into your house and steal from you, it's different. It's it's you know, this is not like you're unwilling to help people, it's let's, you know, do it in an honest way.

SPEAKER_02: 38:04

Right. I actually had a customer one time, um, actually, this was just a year ago, um take$600 worth of food when they had only ordered$200 worth of food. So the the packages had gotten mixed up. Now they didn't bother to call and say, hey, I've got the wrong uh order, even had another customer's name on it. But here was their response when we asked for the incorrect order to be written. They said, You have the worst customer service ever. And I said, Well, because we're asking you not to steal from us, and that was just I was the worst. They would never buy from me again because I asked them to not steal from me. And I said, Dr. JC, the person who paid for that$600 order would like to have that. They would like to because they stole from them too, because they stole their food. Right. But you want to keep the food that you took from another customer, and then I'm supposed to absorb all of those costs, right? It's the same thing. What happens to a company if people steal and steal and steal from you? If you're gonna stay in business, you're gonna pass those prices on to consumers. So stealing is never a good thing. Right on any level. Never a good thing. Never a good thing. Just don't do it. Right, right. So I I I think that, you know, if if we just open up our vision, open up our peripheral vision, look outside of the box that we find ourselves in a lot of the times, and realize that we've been our boxes keep getting smaller and we keep. Getting programmed to believe that we don't have the rights that we have. We have the rights to protect our pets, to push back on um programs that are processes that we don't want our pets to have. And if they will not do it, we have to find someone else.

SPEAKER_00: 40:22

Those vets are working for you. You're paying them. They're like your employee. People get intimidated by the white coat and all that. You're paying them. They're like your employee. They're working for you. They don't have control over you. They want you to believe that, but they don't have any control. Your pet's health is 100% in your hands. And that includes things like giving it a rabies shot. You don't want to do that? That should absolutely be your choice. That's between you and the law. Vets have should have nothing to say about that. And so you people just need to confront vets. And the clients I have that have stronger personalities that have gone in, you don't have to be mean or confrontational because you don't want to burn bridges. If you got a vet you'd like to work with, just say, look, this is how I roll. I may be like when this is how I roll. I don't vaccinate and I feed raw and yada yada yada. And will you work with me? I'd like to give you my business. They say no, then they're out the door. They say, yeah, sure. Then they, you know, they then and people will laugh about it. They're like, yeah, we get the little star on our chart that we're the kookie person, you know. But who cares? Who cares what they think about you? You're in it for your pet. Who cares if they don't like you? Who cares if they talk about you at their next staff meeting because you're one of the crazy people that doesn't want to vaccinate and feeds raw? Who cares? You're in it for your pet. And if you can find a vet that will work with you, because sometimes you're just going to need those services that won't push all these things, you know, you've got to stand up. You're you're doing it, you're doing it for your pet. So you got to get out of your comfort zone and just do it.

SPEAKER_02: 42:02

Just do it. Yeah, it's a different mindset when you are coming in and you're going to a vet knowing that it's a it's a private equity or a corporately owned clinic. You have a different mindset. You are going to be able to spot the upsell. You're going to be able to question better, right? You're ready and you're equipped to question if you know what the protocol typically is. And then you don't feel like you're the bad, you know, cookie pet parent because you're wanting proof or you're not wanting to do this. Okay. So it's a totally different mindset. And again, I would encourage you to work with Dr. JC Scroop. You can go over to ahvet.com. Okay. Ah vet.com. They can consult with you on the questions. Maybe they can look at the clinic. There's a lot of things that they'll be able to help you do. Um, if you are confused. Okay. So you want to get over there and work with Dr. JC's group. If you need help getting your dog on a species appropriate raw diet, or your cat or your ferret, okay, we can help you here at Raw Dog Food and Company.

SPEAKER_00: 43:19

Or your mountain lion or your bear or whatever. Whatever is uh your your carnivore carnivore, your carnivore of choice.

SPEAKER_02: 43:28

That's right. Your carnivore of choice, okay? Just get over to raw dogfoodandcompany.com. Brian is gonna help you. You can go into our chat, you can sign up for the consult. You can send us a text, you can send us an email. We will help you and we will get back with you. Uh your pet's health is our business here at Raw Dog Food and Company. Uh, and I said that backwards. Let's see. Where your pet's health is our business. See, I have to say it in sequence. It's like a song. Because it's automatic. Yeah. And if you say it in the wrong order, then you goof me up and I miss my cue. There's another part. All right. Uh, get over to raw dogfoodandcompany.com where your pet's health is our business. And what, Dr. Jason? Friends don't let friends feed kibble, y'all. That's right. We'll see you guys soon, everybody. Bye bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_01: 44:16

Oh, snap, snap, snap. Find out how you can start your dog on the road to health and longevity. Go to raw dogfoodandcompany.com, where friends don't let friends feed kibble, and where your pets health is our business.