We got her an appointment, but I was just wondering what you think.

Yeah, for especially a young, healthy cat, if you haven't changed anything in the environment, especially introducing a new cat or something stressful, because sometimes that can cause flare-ups of viral diseases that kind of hang out in the background for some cats.

And so if none of that seems to be on the menu, then also I definitely have had an uptick in patients just this time of year with the seasonal transition and seasonal change that we're seeing now.

sometimes there can be an allergy component to that, just some irritation in the environment and not really anything you always have to do about it unless they start to get where they've lose some energy, lose some appetite, or if that snotty nose gets really thick and gunky, or if their eyes start to get really crusty or irritated, then I worry more about that.

But hopefully it's something straightforward.

And most of the time it is.

And either no therapy or just some simple therapies sometimes we'll get them through that so but with a young cat you just you know you pay attention now because maybe next fall if the same thing happens we start to make those patterns out of that too

I think you've

We got her an appointment, but I was just wondering what you think.

Yeah, for especially a young, healthy cat, if you haven't changed anything in the environment, especially introducing a new cat or something stressful, because sometimes that can cause flare-ups of viral diseases that kind of hang out in the background for some cats.

And so if none of that seems to be on the menu, then also I definitely have had an uptick in patients just this time of year with the seasonal transition and seasonal change that we're seeing.

Sometimes there can be an allergy component to that, just some irritation in the environment and not really anything you always have to do about it unless they start to get where they've lose some energy, lose some appetite, or if that snotty nose gets really thick and gunky, or if their eyes start to get really crusty or irritated, then I worry more about that.

But Um, hopefully it's something straightforward and most of the time it is, and either no therapy or just some simple therapies.

Sometimes we'll get them through that.

So, um, but with a young cat, you just, you know, you pay attention now because maybe next fall, if the same thing happens, we start to make those patterns out of that too.

Let Dr. Davis.

Um, I usually wipe it down with a Q-tip or a baby wipe, um, but I was wondering if there's anything I can do to help prevent it.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, the, dogs, and especially dogs with, uh, ear infections or recurring ones, um, are always something you wanna stay on top of because it can get really bad over time.

It can be quite painful.

Also, just really bugs them a lot.

So, um, making sure that, one, is what are we dealing with? So with ears, a lot of dogs have underlying skin allergies, too, and the ears are just part of that process.

So it's making sure we're covering all of our bases, managing the skin.

[laughs]

So would you be open to sharing more about like what NARM is and how you in particular got interested in it?

Yeah.

So my first job out of grad school was at a residential facility with kiddos with substance abuse.

And that was their main modality that they used.

And before that, I came from the dialectical behavioral world, which is all like cognitive and behavioral strategies.

Narm is very different.

It's, like, the complete opposite of it.

Yeah.

So let's get into first, you know, what do you what is your background? How did you get into this? And then how did you ease into from the the scientific stuff into, you know, relationships and families and being a dad? Let's talk about that.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

So I'll take it in that order first, you know, how I got into this stuff.

So I think some of the people listening might know about NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Some might not.

I'll share a little bit about what it is.

And as you said, so I also, I did a, you know, a doctorate where I, you know, research in psychology and neuroscience.

That's

Stella I might even say she's picking up on you being sad too it sounds like

yeah yeah that's that's possible and I would say to answer the initial question is I do think that there there are definitely situations where you have a big break in their normal routine and that can be A situation like yours, we see that often when a pet passes away in the home.

And especially when they're good friends and they spend a lot of time together, they can mope around.

I mean, I've definitely seen it sometimes even for months at a time.

And I also think pets, they do seem to have their favorite person a lot of times.

I know that's true in my household and many other folks say that too.

So the thing I would be careful of though is...

I'm just wondering what we can give him to calm him down.

Yeah

... injured from that.

So, um, those are things we have to be careful of.

But with cats especially, um, the things that you can keep out of their, you know, their ability to get into...

Um, I...

My cats like to do certain things like that too.

So one is keeping the environment just super cleaned up, and, and everything that you can keep out of their access is keeping out of their access, and that'll eliminate a lot of problems.

Oh, yeah

And then beyond age, what other risk factors would you be highlighting here?

I guess the second most important is immunocompromise, and the most common cause for immunocompromise is immunosuppression, as in therapy being given on purpose to suppress the immune system, and that's often in the setting of either an organ transplant or an autoimmune disease that needs immunosuppression, such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus or finally, a malignancy, a hematological or other malignancy that's getting chemotherapy.

So immunosuppression or immunocompromise is the second most common important risk factor for severe disease with COVID.

And then the third category is just other comorbidities which in themselves increase the risk, and those are common comorbidities such as congestive heart failure, type one or two diabetes, chronic renal or liver impairment, obesity, and chronic neurological conditions such as having had previous strokes.

It's really all the common comorbidities that we see all the time and that are quite common in the population.

But I would rank those as I just have in terms of importance as age, number one, immunosuppression, two, and other comorbidities, three.

And then what role do the immune-modifying therapies still play in the management of COVID today, so that things like your inhaled or oral glucocorticoids and your JAK inhibitors like baricitinib and tofacitinib?

They still have a role, maybe just starting with the inhaled corticosteroids.

Mm-hmm

... family therapy, hypnotherapy, on and on, right? All these new things, and nobody has much research on it yet.

Nobody knows exactly why they're working.

But a lot of people in the world of therapy are saying they are working.

They're working much better than anything we've seen.

Um, they're really focused on outcomes, not just on thinking about, "Why have I messed up?" Right? So that's one shift that most people were clear on.

But the rest, I'm not sure why it's working.

Yeah

It's not mine.

Okay.

Yeah, the labs are definitely notorious for having a lot of allergy issues, especially the lighter colored ones.

That can be a problem.

With allergies, especially it sounds like maybe more severe with yours, it's going to be a multiple kind of problem.

approach to getting that handled.

So one is we have to treat the underlying allergy, which for a lot of dogs requires some form of medication, whether that's oral medication or injectable medication.

Maybe just talk about how that's cat behavior, that when they're upset, they can do that.

Okay

... called a graft union.

So you're gonna create a slit that's a V shape at the top of that branch, and then you're gonna grab your scion wood or your fruiting wood.

You're gonna create a V at the bottom, but this one is like an, an inverted V if you think about it in those terms.

And so they're gonna slide together so that one aligns with the other.

And you wanna make sure that these are optimally about the same thickness branch for this type to work, and that's gonna create that fused connection.

You also have to wrap it with a tape or parafilm so that it holds over time in the wind or the weather and the sun as well.

So how long after you graft will you see growth or maybe even fruit?

Like, what are we doing? We've got to find a new way.

I appreciate that a lot.

We've talked about that significantly this season as we've kind of engaged in various ways, this idea of parenting in neurodiverse families.

And so many of our listeners have told me they can really relate to that idea of being just overstimulated, exhausted at the end of your rope, at the end of a church service, and then to feel guilty about that because they feel like they should feel renewed and refreshed and delighted.

And we've also talked at length this season about how we don't know where behaviors are coming from.

And it's so important not to assume that we know where those behaviors are coming from.

it could be coming from a place of defiance it also could be coming from a place of vulnerability and need and the way we treat those things should be very different and so i appreciate your curiosity your willingness to learn and even to open your mind to possibilities of what could be happening that you weren't aware of before that brings me back to something you said earlier you talked about the body's role in discernment.

And the emotional regulation began to improve just by tending well to that system.

And how widespread is its use at the moment?

That's right.

It's being used around the country on different produce.

Growers will be familiar with the names.

Isocyclicerum or Simotus, which is the brand name.

But look, it's not approved in Europe and in the UK.

This particular proposal is to increase the MRL on berries.

So what are your concerns if this 500-time residue limit does get approved? What could that do to consumers?

Can you talk a little bit about your experience with imagination and what you've discovered about that?

Absolutely.

Yes.

Some people are able to visualize things in their imagination very easily.

Some people can visualize them and see them moving around and interacting with one another.

And they can even see 360 around different objects and kind of shift their perspectives.

I personally am not able to visualize anything in my imagination.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, and so I think one of, some of the things that have been helpful have been, you know, s- peers or mentors who have kind of seen me out there swimming and come alongside me and tried to equip me with more information.

Um, but a lot of the times the, the onus is on me.

Um, I need to kind of pick up, pick myself up from my bootstraps, if you will, and, uh, you know, go out and, and learn something new, you know? When, uh, when I was working for the City of Tampa, like, I had to take a lot of initiative to go research the city, the demographics, understand the surrounding area, having never been to Tampa before.

Um, and it's not something that's immediately just, you know, handed to me either.

Um, but I was, you know, so it's like a lot of times...

But on my previous project, thankfully, I had had somebody who kind of-

Yes.

And is there something other than surgery, like I get all the ads on social media about these herbs or drops that'll help her?

Yeah, with the collapsing trachea, so it comes in different levels of how bad it affects dogs.

And surgery is kind of not necessarily a last resort, but generally I would say majority of dogs don't need surgery for that unless they are in respiratory distress kind of all the time.

That's when you would definitely want to consider surgery.

And a lot of herbal supplements and things, I always tell people to take – take it with a grain of salt.

And a lot of things, if they sound too good to be true, then they probably are.

But the big thing is we try to minimize the impact of them coughing all of the time.

Tell me what to do if my dog is bitten by a rattlesnake.

Mm-hmm.

Whether it...

And, and we can get worth, sense of worth, but I think it's like a false sense of worth on the external.

So a lot of people will think about, I need to like really improve my body image.

I need to be...

And like working with eating disorders and people who've like have a lot of like body dysmorphia and things, like it's not about your body at all.

It's really about how you see yourself [laughs] and what lens, and how you relate to yourself, like the lens you see yourself as.

Yes

And let's talk about shame, because I know that gay men experience shame in a different way than like the general population, right? And I would love for you to like sort of- Um, dive into those differences and how, um, you see that playing out in the therapy that you provide.

Yeah.

I really love talking about shame.

[laughs] I'm actually really passionate, which is kind of weird.

Um, and I see shame in a different way than most therapists will, will see it.

So I...

If it's okay if we zoom out a little bit because I wanna talk about shame as like I see it as a coping mechanism versus an emotion.

This episode is sponsored by Shameless Care.

So then how do you reconcile the APVMA's position given that it says it's gone through a rigorous process, a science-based process to arrive at the conclusions that it has?

You'll have to ask the APVMA about that.

What we're seeing is that the way this decision has been made is as disturbing as the decision itself.

So the APVMA did not meet with Australia's top public health experts or neurologists, all of whom were calling for a ban, their advice has been ignored once again.

Whilst the submission process was open to the public, it appears that the weight of evidence that was presented by Australia's top scientific community has again been ignored.

And essentially what this does is pushes the risk back onto farmers.

This pushes the risk back onto the rural communities.

So what would you say to that?

It came with a

pong conversion kit, air hockey, gift card to Men's Game Day Health, Twin Peaks.

I think there was a smoker.

Yeah, you got the smoker.

That's

As the guys sit in the hallway ready to go, what is the main bit of advice? You walked away last year going, oh, did you get in your car last year and go, I should have done this, I should have done that?

Not really.

I mean, I was pretty happy with my performance last year.

What else? It came

with Pong.

Conversion top.

Air hockey.

Gift card to Men's Game Day Health.

Twin Peaks.

I think there was a smoker.

guys sit in the hallway ready to go, what is the main bit of advice? You walked away last year going, oh, did you get in your car last year and go, I should have done this, I should have done that?

exist? They're not supposed to exist is the answer.

Yeah, they're a special breed.

And one of the things we're finding is that they are officially one of the most popular dogs in America now.

And so I've definitely seen a lot more of them in recent times.

I would say some of the things you're talking about are true in some regards.

So they are a higher risk breeds for breathing issues.

They're higher risk breeds for spinal issues, orthopedic issues, and also dental disease.

What is best for him? for him like how how much exercise should he be getting and how much time should he be sleeping

And let

me, anyone with that mental model would.

They're doing the best they know how given that mental model.

They might have a fear of if I start getting into this, I'm getting drawn into this completely, and then I can't be a provider.

Or maybe I never really said, I was going along, I never really said this was my, you know, my thing, but I want to support you, so, you know.

then i would have to be giving up my autonomy if i do this right it's like it has this meaning which isn't necessarily going to play out but right now in that mental model it has that meaning what's that world where it makes sense and i'll give an example of getting into the world where it makes sense and this is something you can do in your own mind beforehand you won't necessarily be right but it is tremendously useful so and by the way actually i have a recording on on the website of me guiding people to step into that world it's like 10 minutes you can listen to it and and be guided you know to do that if it's if that makes it easier but uh uh with uh one of my kids you know he was like struggling like do i you know on his project what should he do saturn or neptune And a week has gone by, maybe a few more days.

It's been a while and he's still asking us, which one should I do? And we're thinking like, come on already, make a decision.

If we want to lower the barriers to involvement with our partner and draw them in rather than push them away, what do we do? How do we start?

How did you become acquainted with the Kingsman? And then also tell us about your audition with the Kingsman, please,

sir.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

So I...

I've kind of known who the Kingsmen, you know, when I was a kid, I always kind of knew who the Kingsmen were.

You know, I knew who Ernie was and Squire was and all those guys that are from Trinity.

Absolutely.

What is that? What does that mean?

So we've divided for this trial, and in fact, in reality, it's divided this way as well, Staph aureus into three different biological types based on its antibiotic susceptibility.

But to get into the SNAP trial, the patient can have any one of these.

It's just that they're then categorized according to what antibiotics their organism is sensitive to or susceptible to.

The most common kind, which is around 70% of all, is called methicillin-susceptible Staph aureus.

So methicillin is an old-fashioned antibiotic no one uses anymore.

but it's still called that for historical reasons.

What have you learned in SNAP?