[00:00:01] Speaker A: Did you know that the pet care industry is a billion dollar industry and it is continuously growing? But are the people who care for your pets growing as well?
I'm Dara Forleo and on the Business of pet Care, we are going to talk about what really goes on behind the scenes of those grooming tables, those daycare walls and those social media filters.
Welcome to the Business of pet care where we explore the innovation, science and strategies shaping the future of animal care. I'm your host, Dara Forleo and today I am joined by Janet Marlow. And Janet is extraordinary, a recognized composer, animal behavior researcher, and she's the founder of the pet acoustics company.
Janet is known for pioneering species specific music which I am so intrigued by. And this is designed to reduce stress in dogs, cats and recently learned horses as well. And you guys all know what the horses mean to me.
Her work has been featured on Animal Planet, Good Morning America and cnbc. And we are so, so excited to have you here. You collaborate with vets, with groomers, with shelters and all kinds of other things and people just collaborating to make life easier for these animals. And you know, a lot of the professionals, I think, don't really think or perceive that the animals hear a little differently than we do.
I think this is really what we're here to talk about. Janet, what is amazing to have you, thanks for being here.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: I am going to let you go with that because this is incredible.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Dara. It's a pleasure to be on.
Yeah.
Taking that comment about professionals are not really aware of, of how much sonic environment is important to their work as well as the environment of the animals that they're working with.
And since 1994, where I started before, most of you have been born.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Not me.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: It was actually my cat and dog, particularly my cat Osbourne, who was as a professional guitarist. I would practice for performances and all my pets would come to my side. And I had saw profoundly relaxed animals at my side just by whenever I played.
And then my cat Osborne was very seriously injured in the woods and I took him to the ICU and I sang to him for five days and he passed and I continued on with my career.
But somehow my spirit just kept on having these burning questions about, well, what was it about the music? What was it about their hearing? Why were they so profoundly relaxed while I was playing and singing, et cetera, et cetera. So I did research for three years, still continuing on with my career and learned that there are people, universities that do Research on hearing.
So I kind of gathered some of the data, and as a recording artist, being able to manipulate sound and notes and a composer, all of that combination culminated in 1997, when I realized, wait a second. You can't just play Mozart or Bob Marley and expect an animal to just transition over because. Why?
Because they hear more than we do. And sound comes before behavior in an animal. So I want to just show you this.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Interesting. Say that again. Sound. Well, comes before sound.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Comes before behavior.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Behavior.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
Because they're listening.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: So I asked.
Yes. Speaking of your cat, speaking of your cat, who hears more, dogs or cats?
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Huh?
I would guess the cats.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: You are correct.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: And you get the prize.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: All right.
The prize is. You're here.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: You're so kind. You're so kind. Okay. Here's just a very simple chart.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: So this is human hearing.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Okay. At the bottom.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Mi poco. Yes. We don't hear very much.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: This is horse hearing.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: Horses and humans hear the most closely related levels of all mammals on the planet.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Interesting.
I wonder if they feel vibrations more Horses do.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Oh, that's a whole show.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: This is canine hearing.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: And this is feline hearing.
Cats hear three times more than we do.
As a matter of fact, this chart needs to be revised. It needs to practically go off this piece of paper. Wow. So they're up.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: That is how they're sleeping. And they're just like. You can just see their little ears twitching because they're picking up everything, even when they're so smoothed out.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Everything. So you can see from that chart that our hearing is minimal here. This whole upper space is their world that we don't experience.
So because we don't experience it, we think it's not there. That's just. That's human nature.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Human nature, Yep.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yep. But for every aspect of groomers, shelters, veterinarians, and pet parents, that education and that knowledge needs to be given to them so that they can take better care and have better welfare for animals in their space. And that's what I've been doing since 1997.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: 97. How did you get into this? I mean, besides your. So that really, the experience with your cat was. Was what, a tipping point?
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yep, it was a tipping point. And I think, And I think I firmly believe this, that in our childhoods, there are themes, and some of them get exercised and evolve and actualize, and some don't. And for me, I grew up in New York and we lived in an apartment.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: And.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: And so in those days, finding a stray cat And a puppy on the street was like, so, so easy. And I was the kid on the block that brought everything home, home.
And my mother was like, out, you know, and there were no shelters to be able. There was no process, no system.
And I would just put them back on the street and be very, very sad about that. But as soon as I had my.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Own home, sorry, this happens.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Yes.
Getting a brushing.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: He is something that's really special.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: I love your cat already.
So that's why I think that the theme of not being able to have animals kind of emerged when I did have animals. And then because I'm such an empathetic listener, like, for example, when I do performances live, performing is an incredible experience. You've got air, you've got humanity in front of you. You're on a stage, you're expressing music and sound with emotion. And you're creating this, this amazing circle with your audience. I mean, it's a beautiful experience.
A lot of work, but full experience.
So for me to do that with an animal is the same level of empathy, but because I use my ears so much that I'm evaluating what my pets were hearing while I was living with them and saw the sensitivity. But then the research followed, and then I started composing music for dogs and then for cats. And I would go around to veterinarians and any friend I had, please, please, please listen to this music.
And then they would come back to me with incredible feedback.
Because it was not music that had broad spectrums of sound and dynamics. It was. I just thought to myself, what does an animal really want to hear? Especially dogs and cats, Horses. Different story.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: They need repeating patterns, strong melodies. 2, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4. Time walk.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. Their movements are different.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Different story. But for a dog and a cat in a home, in outdoors is different because that attracts their, that initiates their wild side. But in the home where they're domesticated, they prefer long sustained, non interrupting because we don't want to startle any of their sympathetic nervous system. So I started composing music for their nervous system and I've refined it to a science.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: And so I, I am, I have some very nervous cats.
And what do you think? Not you, you're. You're okay. It's your two brothers that are problem children.
I don't know if you saw. I had Dr.
Geller on who does feline behavior and keeping animals out of cats out of the shelters. And she's like, yeah, nop, cats are just, they're a little weird.
But I think that's a.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: That's a great entry into what I do.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:20] Speaker B: Because right now in your home is there's. You think there's silence, but there may be an H vac, a hum from the computer, a vibration from the plows going by. There's things going on that we're not experiencing.
Your cat may be experiencing or probably is, and that is why it's important to provide a sonic environment, which is music, which is a very powerful experience for an animal because they feel it in their bodies and. And they hear it in their brains and because it addresses the nervous system.
I guarantee you when I send you the music for your cats or you can download it from my app, it will change your cat's behavior because it will give them something other than just listening to the air where frequencies travel that we don't hear because of that minimum hearing ability.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: That is amazing. I. I am excited to get into this. We have to take a break right now.
But up next, we are going to move right, like we're talking about, from that theory to the proof and how these biometrics show up when pets are actually shifting from their stress into the calm, which is exactly what we're going to talk about with my creatures.
Welcome back to the business of pet care. We are here with Janet Marlo. And now we are going to talk about something I think so powerful, and this is all about measuring how pets actually respond to the sounds.
Stress is probably, do you think, one of the most common issues that's at home, stress and anxiety that the animals are feeling?
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Absolutely. Because they live in our world. And so that's an assumed level of behavior is going to be stressed because they're dealing with our world all the time.
And, you know, there's a rhythm and there's ways that they adapt. But again, through their. Through sound environments and how they hear and their hearing sensitivity, just addressing that will diminish stress. For example, this is just a technique that I think every pet owner, every groomer, every veterinarian needs to have. So you can download like a free decibel reader.
Decibel determines the volume level of sound. Frequency is a different part of sound. But if for a groomer, let's say, downloads and goes around their store and sees where is the greatest issue of volume spike.
Because when you address an animal's nervous system, the stress starts before they enter the vet, the clinic, the shelter, et cetera.
And so the ecosystem that I provide, which is going to be based on biometrics. So let me talk about the biometrics because the first. So I've been doing this long time, and the first 10, 12 years were anecdotal evidences. And I have reams and reams of reviews. People from all over the world, from the CDs that I sent out and then the Bluetooth speakers. So I preloaded the music on Bluetooth speakers, which still exist.
And so then once I was able to do biometric studies, and that was very pivotal for my company because that proved the inside of what's going on with an animal. So we determined pulse rate, cortisol levels, hrv, heart rate variability.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: Okay. I was going to ask if you wanted. Yep.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: And activity level. Those four.
And that was done with a biometric collar. So all the studies that I did, we did a feline study. We've done feline studies, canine studies, and equine studies in the feline. And studies you can see. And I'll share some of those graphics with you to show that in real time, I'm able to see what the cat is going through, what the pulse rate levels. You can tell when they're sleeping, their pulse rate goes down. Apps are very obvious. The activity level, when they have spikes after breakfast and different parts of the day, you can see the insight of what a cat goes through.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Catnip.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Yeah. According to. Yeah. So we did these studies and we were able to. This was all while the music was playing.
So we did one study in Australia. So remote, but in real time, I was able to see.
And then recently, I had a request call from Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the world's great proponents of autistic education, and also animal behaviorist.
And she is also the head animal behaviorist for Fear Free, which is one of the greatest organizations ever.
And we are also Fear Free awarded.
And she said I should do a study with horses. Excuse me, with dogs. Proving that my pedacoustics music is more effective for calming than classical music. And no music. And we did that study.
And yes, all my studies are published and peer reviewed.
And that shows on graphs. Exactly. That the music does diminish stress. So I'm 1,500% confident that the music.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: That's a big confidence.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah, that music.
[00:18:37] Speaker A: That's huge.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: The music works. And I think I'm the only music product, if one has to put it in that way, that is proven biometrically. So I call it biometric music.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: And you've composed these.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: This has been all of your.
Everything. You have composed this music based off of all of your research, Everything you have found.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Because I'm trying to accommodate how these.
And how that's going to affect them on a physiological level.
Yeah.
And it's very profound. And it's a very.
I always say it's a very elegant but very simple way into the root of an animal to diminish their stress, their anxiety, their. Their thunderstorm fears, their travel.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: Fireworks.
[00:19:31] Speaker B: Fireworks, Fireworks.
You know, just before.
Before an animal goes to the vet, there should be. The music should be playing.
We just came out with a pet acoustics app that I'm also the inventor of. The world's first digital pet hearing test that can be done from an iPhone.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: A smartphone. Because I saw that there was this big opening between veterinarians going and click, click, click behind a dog's ears.
And the bear brainstem test, which you have to find a veterinarian that has this machine costs about $350. You bring your cat. There has to be sensors put on and it determines the brain waves according to different sounds. I get stressed just describing it.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: I would imagine that the cats are going, yeah, I'm interested here for this.
Let's do this.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Now your cat's gone.
And so I came up with a high frequency, mid and low frequency hearing test that takes about five minutes to do. It's non invasive. You can do it at home, or a veterinarian can do that in a senior wellness exam.
It gives a report back.
Interestingly, most pet parents realize that their pet has lost hearing after the fact.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: So you don't as.
Yeah. Because you don't see the. The changes because they don't show it as much as. As we do. And it was funny you should say that because our oldest chiweenie is just turned 14 and I was right behind her, and she's looking up the stairs, nothing like, I'm Ellie. Ellie. I'm right here. And she's like, where is she? Where'd she go?
And I was literally not even three feet behind her, and she had no idea. But in front. It's there.
She can hear from the front, but not the back.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: And I didn't realize that until that moment.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Exactly. It's where we're late to realizing.
So the hearing test is a way of monitoring your pet's hearing throughout its lifetime. And so by the time we tested 4,000 dogs and cats, about 700 cats and the rest dogs. From the data that we collected from people doing the hearing tests from around the world and published it in the International Animal Health Journal to show where's the cutoff point for a Dog and a cat, where they start to lose their hearing and then go.
Because everything that we experience, dogs and cats experience, our biologies are similar.
Excuse me.
So one person did the test and said, oh, my dog doesn't hear a thing. Completely deaf. I said, well, please try the test.
And lo and behold, the dog had low frequency hearing.
So the pet parent changed his tone of voice so it was lower because we all talk very high. Yeah, modified.
Where there might be, you know, some low vibrations around the house. Maybe that's where the dog gravitates because he can hear. But animals are amazing. You know, they overcomp. They compensate with other senses. They do. But the important thing is for the knowledge of the pet parent to understand because it's not just behavior, it's actually something going on physiologically.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Hearing is the most overlooked aspect of animal health.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: And until now, we didn't have a way to really monitor that. But this is amazing. We're going to take another break here.
Coming up, we are going to shift from science to strategy and how Janet brought this innovation to the market and which audiences embraced it first. Now I do have to say, Janet, please tell us, Brick, real quick, how can our listeners and viewers reach you?
[00:24:25] Speaker B: We have a wonderful website. It's called pet acoustics petacoustics.com the science is there, the products are there, the education.
I have a podcast called We're All Ears with a lot of information for pet parents and veterinarians and, and I recommend petacoustics.com thank you.
[00:24:52] Speaker A: All right, we will be right back.
Foreign.
Welcome back.
You know, these ideas, everything we think about as entrepreneurs, these ideas only change the industry when the right people adopt them.
Janet's journey from research to, to this incredible momentum that she is using is such an amazing.
I don't even know, it's just so amazing.
Bringing the science based innovation to the pet care world, it must have required some major convincing, right? Identifying who would understand this value and how you influence this broader adoption.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Well, I was so passionate about it.
I had kind of an innocence not knowing the pet industry, not even knowing business, because I was an artist.
And I think that has actually been part of the charm of how I got into it is not at the curiosity and the learning and the understanding and making errors and then moving ahead.
But I always had the confidence that I knew I was doing something right for the animals. And my company is pet centric, not entertainment.
The music is not a playlist.
It is a scientific medicine in its way.
I've actually had veterinarians prescribe my music for the stress of, you know, to pet parents.
And so it's, it's a whole ecosystem to help go from animals.
Animals really need predictability. That's what keeps them calm.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: And so the. I'll give you an example. I have a 19 month old Cavapoo puppy named Cody. He's. Now I have to show you the picture of him.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: Of course, of course. He's so cute.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: He's very, very cute.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: That face, very, very cute.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: Hard to resist, but he's, there's something about a cavalcale. He's half poodle, so he's, he's very alive and then he's very cuddly because he's a catapult. So since I developed the app Music in the. In the morning, he's very active, but he does need his rest.
And so I put on the music and he looks to the iPhone and he immediately curls and goes and takes his nap.
Since I've been giving him the music since he was a few weeks old, it's a trigger for behavior.
So that predictability means that I know I'm safe, I'm comfortable, I'm connected and I can release muscle tension and do what it is that I need to do. And I believe that calm is health and balance of behavior is longevity.
There's no question about it that stress leads to illness in us and in animals.
So to help an animal find that has been part of the journey. And my first group.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: I've been pet with pet parents.
[00:28:57] Speaker A: Pet parents. Okay.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: Because.
And they could see right away. It was an amazing help to them. I've got wonderful stories and I hear from people all the time.
And then I moved into veterinarians. Veterinarians.
They've been veterinarians kind of all along, but not in a large way because they were the hardest ones to convince about the music because they're scientists themselves and they want hard, cold facts.
[00:29:32] Speaker A: That makes total sense even from a grooming perspective.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: They are tough to win over.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Yes, they were until recently.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: Okay, so that's a new one then.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Yes.
And then I had a lot, a lot of mom and pop kind of stores that adopted selling the products for me.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Okay. So there, that was the growth stage.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: There was big, big growth. And then when E Commerce came along, I focused on E Commerce, which I've been doing all along. Amazon, Chewy.
And then Petco adopted my products and put it in all their stores nationwide.
I'm giving you the timeline of the group.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, this is great because I mean, in my head I see how that expansion happens and just. Okay. And I don't know, and you don't have to say if this is too much, but I'm gonna like, how do you get into a store of that size, A company of that size?
What makes them go, yeah, we want that.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, there are people in between A and Z and you have to find those people to make that happen.
Yeah. When you get into one on one E commerce, that's all great. Even though Amazon requires a lot of communication and all kinds of things that go in between having somebody go onto your site and buying a product.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: And that has to be maintained and monitored and managed. A lot of management. A lot of management.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Finding the right people, that's getting the right people.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Did you have someone helping you navigate all this or were you just kind of like, I think I'm going to reach out to Petco.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Well, I did a lot of trade shows and I met a lot of people.
Trade shows were also a big vehicle for escalating.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I understand that we owning a school, online grooming school, trying to get in front of your audience is really hard.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: Yeah. You have to be active and you have to have.
Even if you don't feel like you have confidence, you have to always carry your core principles.
And there have been a lot of things where I've said, no, I'm not going to go and dilute the value of my company for money.
And I've really held what I've created, especially since I'm kind of the only one who's done this in a scientific way.
Depending on other science studies, I'm doing my own that I've always kept that the core principle of, hey, this is I'm doing this for the animals. I know that there's a dog in Switzerland who's just come out of post surgery, is listening to my music and is going to have a better, faster healing experience.
This is how I think it's a core value.
For the last three years, I've been focusing on the veterinary world because it's time I know what goes on.
My veterinary clinic has my music everywhere. Lobby, exam room, euthanasia room, the cattery.
During surgery, they play my music because on an unconscious level the cat will actually be more relaxed and so.
And it's also very good for the veterinarians and their staff.
It calms everything down.
And we have lot. I have lots of music. I have all kinds of SD cards that can be exchanged in bluetooth speakers. Because humans require variety.
But you can play the same music for an animal for 10 years, and this. The. The. The behavior will be the same.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Interesting. That's very interesting, because they're not going to pick up on it. I do have a question about.
Before you go much further, but how about resistance?
Have you gotten.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
In the early stages.
And I always say this in the early stages, when I go into a group and say, you know, I compose music for animals, people would completely laugh. But the world has changed.
And now if I'm at a social gathering and I say, I compose music for animals to diminish stress within. Before I can finish the word stress, they've got their phone out and they're ordering the product.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Yep, I'm gonna do it. I'm doing it. I'm sold.
Let me just ask you something about that, because you've probably seen video of Casper the Chihuahua, and he is hysterical. I mean, she can't get two syllables out without him taking over for her.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:06] Speaker A: Is that like.
I don't know. Is that different? That. That's on a different level.
Casper's here, picking up something in her that he's like, I'm taking over this.
You're not doing it right.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Yeah. The. Are you talking about the. The Chihuahua?
[00:35:25] Speaker A: The Chihuahua, yeah.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: The.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: In the car with the screaming. Yeah.
Yes.
That's not good.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: It's. When it's the. The. The. I think she is a. I can't remember her name. She's an actress.
I think she's. She sings on. On. She does a lot of plays. And she adopted Casper from a shelter, and when she starts singing at home, he trumps her like, no, mom, you're done. I'm singing now.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Because.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Hysterical.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it is.
It's very entertaining. And dog.
Dogs have incredible responses to sounds and pitches because their language is tone, volume, and pitch.
So it's very easy. And so.
And the dog is saying, oh, you are.
It's like he's saying to her, I understand you, and I'm now responding to you.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:36:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great. I actually did a.
A singing contest for dogs a couple of years ago. We gave out an award and prizes, and we had people send us videos of their dogs singing.
And the one. That one was in Texas, Nola. And Nola was just like.
It was like, operatic. It was so amazing.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: They do the playing on the keyboards. They like getting on the keyboards.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: And, yeah, interesting music is a power, but the correct music is a.
Is a physiological strategy for Pet parents and for professionals.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: Yes, that is a great lead into our next segment because we're going to take a quick break and when we come back, we are going to talk about turning this into, in for the professionals so that they can use it every day.
Janet, real quick, tell us one more time, where can we find you?
[00:37:46] Speaker B: Everything you're hearing about is on petacoustics.com and you will enjoy the science, the products and the education.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: Excellent one. Thanks.
We'll be right back.
Welcome back to the business of pet care. Now we are going to look at how science has become a system.
Something that I think we talked about earlier that professionals, you guys can use this consistently even in those high pressure environments because I think that's where it needs to be used the most.
Innovation only scales when it is repeatable. And I think Janet has nailed this one with having it being said more times throughout this. Repeatable, repeatable, repeatable. So if they need it repeatable, that's how it also becomes scalable.
Works right into that, doesn't it?
What, what is, what was the hardest part of turning this and all the research that you have done in into that, that tool that we can use, especially under pressure. I mean a lot of kennels and daycares and even grooming, it is so stressful for a lot of animals coming in.
And I know my guys hate going to the vet. They like the vet. They just don't like going to the vet. Oh, that's such, they know.
[00:39:49] Speaker B: That is such a great segue for me to say that we need to have.
Every profession now needs to be a science informed profession.
Groomers, shelters, I mean even veterinarians, you would think that they would be very knowledgeable hearing health, but it's not addressed enough in their education.
So the next generation needs to adopt science as part of their profession. Because what I'm doing in my end of it is to create a higher standard of care.
And I think the whole, I just came from the VMX Veterinary Expo and the whole industry is, is focused on the sensory experience of the animal, not just the medication, et cetera, et cetera. So the sensory experience from the time that they enter. Well, let's talk about your experience of trying to get your cat to the vet. So only 23% of pet cat owners bring their cat to the vet. Only 23%.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:13] Speaker B: And, and I, and I, I had cats. I had cats for 15 years and I had a cat named Oliver and I used to put him in. Once I got him into the carrier, I Swear to God, all the way in the car he would say the word horror. I, I used to say, I used to hear him say horror.
[00:41:31] Speaker A: Horror.
[00:41:36] Speaker B: And so my focus this year is on cats and helping the industry, the veterinary industry, getting more cats in the exam for their own, for cat health and welfare. And so I recommend the music, which is. It's not a playlist, it's not entertainment. I hope I've made that, that clear. It has a measurable and repeatable effect and it's species specific. So the music for cats should be for your cat, for dogs and horses, et cetera. And so the vision that people should have is, okay, I'm going to play the music, I'm going to have the carrier open, my cat is going to go into the carrier. You continue, because that lowers the cortisol level before the cat gets to the veterinarian. And you know, and then there's that.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: Stressful car ride and.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: Yes. And it minimizes going out the door.
Right. But the music, music, music is the environment that will, will physiologically lower cortisol level.
And then, then the veterinarian should have the music playing in the exam room, of which many do.
And that will also help the environment. And so then the pet parent, the cat and the veterinarian are not responding to their own fight or flight behavior because the three in the room are working together.
Yes, you either work together or you're all stressed together.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: So that's, that's really interesting that you should say that because, I mean, that is really training multiple people at once to do this simultaneously for this process to work. So that's really complex.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: Not really, because.
[00:43:42] Speaker A: Because from a systems point of view.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: But yeah, and that's the whole point of it is that it's a non invasive, subtle acoustic environment that's great for the cat, which triggers the human and the vet to calm down. And the music actually has an effect on humans. I mean, I have many, many wonderful stories.
And in the early stages, women, I'm sorry to say this, but women used to say, do you have one for husbands?
But it really has an effect on the human body.
Yeah, yeah. Because in. The music is not what is exciting. It doesn't have a big scope. It's not Beethoven.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: You can't. Just because it's classical music doesn't mean that it's calming for an animal, because it's not designed for animals. So I created a category, it's called pet music.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: And it is just for them. And you have created, you have composed it, you have Made this into a world, into a global grow.
I mean, yeah, this is, it's, it's very eye opening. Very eye opening to see in that chart at the very beginning shows that chart one more time because that chart at the beginning showing those differences.
And I'm going to say, because we're to have to wrap up here shortly. But yes, that. Janet, also, you've had a couple. You have a book. I know you just wrote your, your book. We talked about it a little bit earlier about the equin and there.
So that, that's a whole other story. Might have to have you come on just to talk about the horses.
[00:45:37] Speaker B: Would love to. Love to. I have what dogs here? What cats here?
Yeah.
[00:45:43] Speaker A: It's amazing. So, you know what? For everyone out there, I think this should be in every grooming shop because I know working in grooming shops for the last 30 years, it can be an extremely stressful environment. And the dogs coming in are some of them. It's, it's, it, it is part of their being, but not all of them. And just to be able to make that a little bit easier for them and that transition into the shop eas and a lot of times we do know it is the parents coming in that they are nervous about too.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: That's why they should be playing the.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: Music for everyone involved. Yeah. And is that it? Show. That's one of the.
[00:46:29] Speaker B: Well, this is one of the speakers.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: And it's preloaded with an SD card. There's all kinds. And then there's one that's larger. This is called the Pettoons Pro. This could fill up a whole kennel.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:43] Speaker B: And then we have the app, which is downloadable.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: I mean, and you have a lot of information on your website. So for anyone looking for this, you can find Janet one more
[email protected]. this has been amazing. Janet, I just want to say thank you so much for showing, for coming on and doing this. I mean, it takes something to be innovative in a world that sometimes does not embrace things easily.
You have done a fantastic job and this is something that everyone needs to really look at and consider for their businesses and especially how to get it into more places, into the shelters. I can just. That just breaks my heart thinking about that. Oh, my gosh.
But for everyone watching, hey, today's conversation is definitely a reminder that businesses and that the business of pet care is not just about tools or techniques. It is about understanding the animals that we work on on a deeper level and creating the environments where they feel safe as well.
I'm Dara Forleo. Thank you again, Janet, for coming. And this has been the business effect here, where better care meets smarter business.
