Dixie: 00:00:02

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Welcome back to the show everyone.

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Today we have a very special guest

joining us from the Inner Pup, a fantastic

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organization dedicated to keeping pets

healthy and in their loving homes.

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Welcome, Genie

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Gold Ring.

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, I'm excited to learn about the Inner Pup.

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To start, can you tell our listeners a

bit about the Inner Pup and its mission?

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Genie: I would love to.

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So my daughter , Lindsay Goldring,

nd I started the Inner pup in: 2014

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And the reason we did it is

because we looked around and

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we said the system is broken.

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There are too many animals and people

can't afford their pets, and they're

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forced to surrender their pets because

they can't afford veterinary care

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and they can't afford behavioral

training and they need education.

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And the system is broken, and

the answer is in prevention.

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The more shelters we build, the

more rescues that are created,

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the more dogs and cats will come.

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What we need to do is address

it at the prevention level.

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So we started, we bought a $3,000 truck.

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Put a logo on the hood and started

driving through underserved

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neighborhoods and handing out toys

and treats and educating pet owners

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and seeing what their needs were.

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Just asking them questions and

they all wanted veterinary help.

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They all wanted behavioral training,

and they wanted to learn more

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about responsible pet ownership.

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So we got started and we actually, we

started with a focus on heartworm disease.

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So.

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I don't know how much the listeners are

aware of heartworm disease, and maybe

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in another podcast , if there's a lot

of Innerest, I can do an education on

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heartworm disease, but for now I'll

just say that it is a hundred percent

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preventable and it is very expensive and.

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Hard on dogs and pet owners to treat.

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So prevention is easy and it works, but

very few pet owners, can afford access

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to care and can afford retail veterinary

care, they don't know what heartworms are.

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They think they're intestinal

worms or they don't even

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know that, but they're not.

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They're spread by mosquitoes

and, they're fatal if untreated.

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So we decided to focus on heartworm

disease because in Louisiana, mosquitoes

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are practically the state bird.

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They're everywhere and

they're 12 months a year.

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And if people don't have veterinary

care, they don't have access to heartworm

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prevention because all of heartworm

prevention is prescription only.

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So we started doing pop-up clinics

and we started doing them monthly, and

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that has become a huge focus for us.

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We then started a heartworm treatment

program because we encountered such a

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high incidence of heartworm positive dogs

and owners who couldn't afford treatment,

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which is easily one to $2,000 per pet.

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So.

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We started a soft kill treatment that

has gone through several iterations.

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And our current soft kill treatment

is now the clinical arm of a big study

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that is starting out this summer and

will go on for two and a half years to

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test the protocol that we developed.

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So heartworm disease, there's a

lot more awareness about heartworms

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since the inner pup got involved.

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And at this point we've gotten 107

dogs free of heartworm disease and

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hundreds, thousands actually more are

on prevention because of our programs.

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So that's a little bit about us.

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Dixie: Thank you.

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And that was very informative too

'cause I know there are a lot of people

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that do not know about heartworms,

so I'm glad that you could go over

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that and I most certainly would

love to have a show that would focus

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on something like that as well.

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Now let me ask you another question

'cause you said that heartworm

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medications our prescription.

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So how is it that you are able to get

these meds to the public that needs them?

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Genie: So yes, they are prescription

only, and so anyone who doesn't have

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access to a veterinarian can't get a

prescription for heartworm prevention.

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So we have about 20 to 25

veterinarians who rotate at our

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monthly clinics, and we have a primary

vet under whose license we operate.

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And it's because of that partnership

with our, the veterinary community

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that we are able to order and

dispense heartworm prevention.

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We don't dispense it at all unless

we do a heartworm test on the dog.

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If the dog is heartworm

negative, we offer prevention.

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If they're heartworm positive, we offer

enrollment into our treatment program.

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And if we do offer prevention, we

offer three different types for

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puppies under six months of age.

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We offer a topical prevention.

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It's actually a topical

heartworm and flea prevention.

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And for dogs that are fully grown.

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We offer injectable prevention,

either Pro Heart six or Pro Heart

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12, which lasts for six to 12 months.

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So the compliance is very easy.

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We're not free.

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We're extremely low cost, and we

don't compete with veterinary.

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So for our clients, it's not a vet

clinic or us, it's us or nothing.

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And so that's why.

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Dixie, when we first started, we were

warned, you're gonna get such pushback

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from the veterinary community, and

exactly the opposite has happened.

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We've gotten such support in

participation from the veterinary

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community because they recognize

that our clients are not able to.

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Go to their retail clinics

and so they help us.

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And we also offer at our clinics, a

full medicine chest of prescription meds.

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So when our vets have an eye on the

dog, if there is time at our clinics.

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They will prescribe if they see something

simple that doesn't require a follow

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up, like a skin condition or an ear

or infection or something with the

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eyes or just some kind of an allergy,

they'll prescribe right on the spot

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and there's no extra charge for that.

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So, it's, access to care

is so, so important.

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And every animal deserves

health and quality of life.

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So we also offer behavioral

training, low cost for those who

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can show low income, and there is

an application process for that.

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We also have an application process,

and a client has to show low income in

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order to get a veterinary visit, and we

do offer that service, and we can't help

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pet owners whose pets have emergency.

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We're short staffed and we're at capacity.

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But for pets who have an easily

treatable condition, or need humane

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euthanasia, we can help so animals

don't die painfully at home.

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. Dixie: you did say that you focus on

the prevention based animal welfare.

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Genie: We

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do

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Dixie: What do you do in addition

to the heartworm treatment,

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. Genie: Our programs are generally

monthly heartworm prevention clinics

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where we see well over a hundred dogs.

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We also have cat clinics

monthly, we have storefronts.

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We have an office at the

Healing Center on St.

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Claude, and we do monthly storefronts.

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For cats there.

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We also do monthly storefronts for our

treatment dogs so that they can be treated

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and serviced in a very calm environment.

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Our clinics are pretty chaotic.

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We hold them in underserved

neighborhoods, in convenient locations

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like firehouses, neighborhood

engagement parks, places like that.

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But they're pretty chaotic.

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We also have a behavior training

program and we have a veterinary

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assistance program, so those

are our flagship programs.

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And then we also offer help

just one-on-one as far as.

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Other resources.

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When low income pet owners come to

us, we try to link them to resources

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they need, whether they be housing or

legal or in any way that we can help.

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We used to have an education program.

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It was teacher taught in.

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At risk charter schools and it was

fabulous, but Covid shut that down.

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So now we do a lot of outreach and

education at different community events

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and whether they're animal welfare

events like this past week, past fest,

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or whether they're just human events.

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So any way that we can spread awareness.

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And make people aware of the

services we have so that we can help.

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All we wanna do is help more

pet owners and more pets.

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Dixie: Since you did say it is

for low income, what are the

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financial requirements for that?

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Genie: Thanks for asking Dixie.

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For our clinics, we don't ask.

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We assume that anyone who's

willing to wait a few hours in

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line with their pets and inclement

weather, whatever they need us.

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And of course there are always gonna be a

few people who sort of skip through, but

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there are not many, most of the people at

our clinics really do need our services.

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For instance, we had , an

event on March 23rd.

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It was our first foray

into one Health, which is.

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Treating humans and pets.

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And we did that strictly because if people

can't afford their pets, they probably are

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struggling to afford their own healthcare.

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So we offered human health

screenings as well as

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pet services and we also offered vaccines,

which we try to do at least once a year.

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And we saw 205 dogs and 20 cats.

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So some people waited four hours.

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In line.

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And so our assumption is if they're

willing to do that, they need us.

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So we don't ask for our other

programs for low cost dog training

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and for veterinary assistance.

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They do have to show need and they have to

provide, whether it's federal assistance

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or whatever, they can show that they're

receiving because of their low income.

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Or however they can prove it

to us, we do ask for that.

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Dixie: As far as the clinics and then

this veterinary care, is that gonna be

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at your actual physical location or do

you send them to a veterinary hospital

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Genie: it's another great question.

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We have five or six participating vet

clinics that work with us and they give

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us great discounts and the client, if

they can afford it, they pay a $20 copay

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and most of our clients want to pay.

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They just simply can't

afford to pay the entire.

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Fees.

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So the same with our clinics.

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For instance, we offer, when we do offer

Pro Heart six at our clinics, we offer it.

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That's a six month of prevention

plus a heartworm test, plus

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six months of flea prevention.

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I think our call, I

think our charge is $45.

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It's unheard of.

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As far as from a veterinary

clinic, it would be.

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Probably quadruple that, if not more.

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If the client can't afford it.

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If the client is unhoused,

we don't deny their pet.

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That medicine, but most of our

clients are really so grateful and

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happy to pay and want to contribute.

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They recognize there's a cost to

everything, and they wanna help and they

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wanna help us be sustainable so that

they can continue to come back to us.

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Dixie: You said that you do offer,

of course, the heartworm, the

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vaccinations, and you also try to

do the outreach to educate people.

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So the clients that are coming to you,

were they aware of these things or was

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it the outreach that you're doing that

made them aware that they need to treat

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for heartworms, they needed to vaccinate,

they need flee prevention, et cetera?

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Genie: It is a great question.

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It doesn't have a simple answer,

Dixie, because people come

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to us in many different ways.

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Some get referred when they adopt

a dog from a shelter or a cat.

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Some get referred to us.

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Through friends, some of us,

because sometimes because we

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operate in their neighborhood and

they just see a clinic happening.

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We, as I said, we do a lot of outreach

at community events and we do have

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an active website that gets visited.

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We're active on social media, so.

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All the avenues that are available to us,

we try to use and we love word of mouth.

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But it is true that most of our heartworm

prevention clients had no idea what

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heartworms were before they heard

about us, and now they're vigilant and.

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They're pretty religious about making

sure that their pets, that their dogs

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get heartworm prevention monthly.

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They know they can't miss a single month.

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That's all it takes is one mosquito.

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And they never want it to happen.

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They know how much suffering heartworm

disease can cause and they care a lot.

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And there's always compliance issues

but that's in any demographic.

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We handhold a lot initially until people

are fully on board and totally understand

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the significance of heartworm disease.

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The vaccines we don't offer very often.

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Thankfully, there are other avenues to

get low cost vaccines, but we try to do a

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vaccine clinic once a year and we do offer

vaccines for cats at our storefronts.

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And our storefronts for cats are.

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A new program we started this

past year just by popular demand.

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We had so many people and clients

who have dogs who also have cats,

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so that's what brought it on.

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And we have a number of vets who are

particularly in love with cats and we're

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very happy to volunteer at our cat clinic.

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So, those have become popular.

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Dixie: And what about spay neuter?

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Genie: We offer spay neuter as part of

our veterinary assistance, and we don't

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have a separate spay neuter program.

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We know Jefferson Parish

has a wonderful one.

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We have heard that Orleans

Parish is trying to develop one.

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We always ask for donations.

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For spay neuter because we would love

to have a separate spay neuter program.

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We know it's a vital

resource in the community.

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There are too many dogs.

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There are just simply too

many dogs and people are.

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Breeding, they're doing a lot of backyard

breeding and pets are dying in shelters.

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So we strongly support spay neuter.

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We wish we had more funding for it.

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We wish we had more

funding for everything.

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We are at capacity.

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We are a small staff.

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We have.

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Two full-time volunteers.

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I'm one of them, Dixie, and I'm

a seven day full-time volunteer.

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We have three full-time staff

and we have about 200 volunteers

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and we also have an affiliate program

for heartworm clinics because we're

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the only heartworm clinics in the

country and we do free consults.

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with other organizations all over

the country with affiliates who

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want to start their own heartworm

prevention clinics because heartworm

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disease is national at this point.

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It used to be, it's still much

higher incidents in the south, but

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because of pet transport, heartworm

disease has some it's no longer

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limited to southeast United States.

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It's really.

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Every state in the country has some

level of incidents of heartworm disease.

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Dixie: Oh, I didn't know that, I

knew it was worse of course in

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the south, but I didn't know that

transport is what kind of contributed

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to it across the the US as well.

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Genie: Absolutely.

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And so now it's recommended in

I think every state that pets

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be on year round prevention.

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It used to be in the north and northeast

that veterinarians used to say, in the

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wInner months you could discontinue.

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Heartworm prevention, but no

longer because there are always

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reservoirs of mosquitoes.

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There's always water that's

left and 'cause of transport.

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It has moved there's so many pets from

southern rescues and shelters that get

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transported because there are fewer

pets being bred up east and up north.

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So yes, it has become a national

problem, although much more

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in the south and southeast.

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Dixie: Now, the vets that work with

you, do they volunteer their time?

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Genie: They absolutely do.

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And it's a good question, Dixie, because

we have tried and offered to pay our vets.

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They do an amazing job.

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They come in their spare time.

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Our clinics are scheduled

usually for two hours.

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They always go on for three.

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And we offer, and we've never

had a vet accept payment.

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And we've put it in their pockets

and they've returned it and,

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said you need it more than we do.

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And our volunteers are incredible and

we have so many vet techs who volunteer

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with us and skilled blood draws.

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We partner with the vet school at LSU.

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And their vet students act as blood draws

and do our heartworm test at our clinics.

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And they love it because they do

high volume blood draws and we

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love it because they're terrific.

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One thing I should mention is if

anyone does wanna volunteer with the

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Inner pup, we have so many positions.

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First of all, we love what we call our

neighborhood ambassadors who are just

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people in a question you asked earlier.

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Who just spread the word of what

we do, whether they spread flyers

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about our clinics or, they're always

the sweet, wonderful grandmothers

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that sit on the front porches and

see people walk by with pets and

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we'll tell them about our services.

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We have administrative tasks

that can be done at home.

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We have so much administrative work that.

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It could help our staff if we have skilled

volunteers to do, and we always need vet

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techs and people who are skilled with

handling dogs and cats, and all they need

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to do is write to info@theinnerpup.org.

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And they'll get a response.

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They can also sign up, subscribe

to our newsletter on our

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website, and volunteer there.

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And you know what, we offer volunteers

every month we do an orientation.

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Our operations director conducts a

wonderful orientation, which gives

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an overview and people can select

where they feel they fit best.

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We don't allow clinic clients to

become volunteers at our clinics.

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It's just something we have

ruled against, but they can

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certainly volunteer in other ways.

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And we always love veterinarians

who volunteer and we have such a

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large pool of incredible volunteers.

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We couldn't operate for

a week without them.

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So, but we have a small staff.

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We have two full-time volunteers, of

which I'm one and we have three full-time

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staff employed and one part-time.

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And we do a lot and we.

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Always need donations and

funding to be sustainable.

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'cause our clinic costs

are more than we bring in.

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All of our costs are more than we charge.

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Dixie: It does sound like you have a

huge impact on the community, and you

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did say you were involved in the study.

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Can you tell us a little

bit about that study?

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Genie: I can give you a preview of it.

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It doesn't start until August and we

are still learning, but we are working

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and I'm not sure I'm at liberty to

give too much information, but I

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will give you a great preview based

on the protocol that we developed.

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We had a few researchers who.

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One of whom we met at actually

the American Heartworm Symposium

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in 2019 when we were invited to

present a poster of our clinics.

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And since then we've stayed in touch

and she is going to be the lead

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researcher on a large two and a half

year study that is very well funded.

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And it is to test this protocol

which is a soft kill protocol.

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Some people call it soft kill.

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Some people call it slow kill.

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But if the study proves the

success as well as our own

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program has shown the success.

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It will become, it will be published, and

it might change the way that heartworm

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disease is treated in this country.

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Heartworm disease is currently the

protocol, acceptable protocol by

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the American Heartworm Society is a.

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Fast kill protocol that is based

on an arsenic based medicine.

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It is very hard on the dog.

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It is very hard on the pet owner.

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It requires restriction of

exercise for a number of months.

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It's big lifestyle adjustment

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it carries some risk, but it's very

hard and a slow kill protocol is

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much easier to comply with, much

easier on the dog, much easier on.

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The pet owner.

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So we just need to prove in a very

controlled study that it is as

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successful as we've shown it to be.

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Over the past few years we've used

it, so we're very excited about it.

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Dixie: That's wonderful

and good luck on that too.

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That's really Inneresting.

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I did not know that much

about heartworms either.

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I'm more of a cat rescuer

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Genie: Cats get heartworms too.

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And one or two cat heartworms

can kill a cat and.

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Only about 5% of cat owners

give regular prevention.

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There's no treatment for cat

heartworms as of yet, so that's

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a whole nother discussion.

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If someone wants to learn more about

heartworm disease, we have an incredible

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video that's on our website, Dixie.

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It was produced by a gal, Rachel

Grissom, who is an award-winning

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filmmaker local in New Orleans, and

it was narrated by Angela Hill, who,

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if anyone is over the age, maybe 40.

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They would know her.

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She was a WWL news anchor forever, for

many years, and she's a wonderful person

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with a beautiful voice, and I think

that they can access that if they go

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on our website, I think it's under the.

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Affiliate program.

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And if they scroll to the bottom,

it's a two part 15 minute total

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video on heartworm disease.

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And it's wonderful.

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If anyone is as obsessed with

heartworms as I am, they'll love it.

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Dixie: Yeah, I'm gonna go check it out.

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And what's the website?

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Genie: It's www.theinnerpup.org

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and I think it's under the first

tab is maybe what we do or how we

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can help, but if you look at there

only, I think four tabs at the top

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and one of them is for the affiliate

program and that's where it would be.

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: 00:28:08

Dixie: Okay, thank you.

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And I'm gonna include a link

to that in our show notes.

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Genie: Thank you.

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Dixie: You're welcome.

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: 00:28:15

Now I have to ask too, it sounds

like you're very knowledgeable,

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: 00:28:18

of course, about heartworms.

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: 00:28:20

So how long did it take you to

learn all this and what prompted

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: 00:28:23

your Interest in heartworms?

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: 00:28:24

Genie: Dixie, you ask great questions.

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: 00:28:26

You should be a podcaster.

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: 00:28:28

You do a great job you really

do listen very well and ask

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: 00:28:33

incredibly good questions.

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: 00:28:34

If I were gonna ask myself questions,

I would ask these questions.

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So, I.

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: 00:28:41

Am from a very medical family, and

everyone in my family, including

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: 00:28:48

my two sons, are physicians.

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: 00:28:50

So I have had a lifelong

Innerest in medicine.

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: 00:28:54

I grew up in hospitals.

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: 00:28:55

My father was a surgeon.

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: 00:28:57

I used to go make rounds with him.

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: 00:29:00

My first husband was an O-B-G-Y-N.

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: 00:29:04

I've always had an Innerest.

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: 00:29:05

I've read medical textbooks all

my life, so when I got into animal

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: 00:29:10

welfare, it was like, heartworm

disease, mosquitoes New Orleans.

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: 00:29:15

Are you kidding?

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: 00:29:16

This is like a no brainer.

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: 00:29:19

It said, it tells the entire story

that about access to care, that if you.

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: 00:29:28

If you have to use a prescription

drug for prevention and you need

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: 00:29:35

to see a vet to get a prescription,

and you can't afford a vet.

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: 00:29:41

Then the incidence of heartworm

disease is going to be so high in the

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: 00:29:46

at-risk community, and it's simply

not fair Income should not determine

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: 00:29:54

a pet's health or a human's health for

that matter, and we need to provide.

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: 00:30:01

Access to care, and that's why so many

national animal welfare organizations are

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: 00:30:08

detouring from sheltering into prevention.

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: 00:30:12

So we really did have

the right idea when we.

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: 00:30:18

Thought up the inner pup.

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: 00:30:19

I had a medical background.

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: 00:30:21

I had done some freelancing and

writing and my daughter had done right

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: 00:30:27

out of college, been the director

of a animal welfare organization,

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: 00:30:34

a shelter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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: 00:30:37

And it was.

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: 00:30:39

We've had this huge love of animals.

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: 00:30:42

We've both volunteered our, with animals.

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: 00:30:47

And when we looked around, when

she moved back home and just said,

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: 00:30:53

my goodness, the system is broken.

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: 00:30:56

It needs to be the way it was when

I was growing up, where you went

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: 00:31:01

to a shelter to find your lost pet.

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: 00:31:04

You didn't.

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: 00:31:06

Surrender your pet there because

you couldn't afford to feed 'em.

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: 00:31:10

It's just simply not fair

and it has to change.

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: 00:31:15

So that's why we're here.

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: 00:31:19

Dixie: That's great.

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: 00:31:20

Do you have future

goals for the Inner pup?

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: 00:31:24

Genie: Yes, we want inner

pups all over the country.

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: 00:31:27

We want affiliates.

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: 00:31:29

We want heartworm prevention

and treatment clinics.

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: 00:31:33

More than anything, we want

to improve access to care.

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: 00:31:39

Our largest goal is one health, just

as I said, because if people can't

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: 00:31:44

afford their pets, they can't afford

their own health, but we'll be happy to

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: 00:31:50

get, make progress with access to care.

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: 00:31:53

And as more and more national

organizations are putting

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: 00:31:58

their dollars into access.

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: 00:32:01

To care and trying to figure

out ways to provide it.

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: 00:32:06

I think it's going to happen.

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: 00:32:07

I'm very hopeful and we wanna

spread the gospel of the inner

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: 00:32:13

pop to whoever will listen.

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: 00:32:16

Dixie: And finally, what is

the most rewarding part of

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: 00:32:19

working with the Inner pup?

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: 00:32:22

Genie: That's an easy one.

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: 00:32:23

It's the people, it's the gratitude.

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: 00:32:26

We see people every day who love and

adore their pets, and they are so

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: 00:32:32

grateful to be able to give their

pets what they deserve because of us.

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: 00:32:38

So that's the easy part.

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: 00:32:40

We love the people and the pets

that our community is so rich.

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: 00:32:48

We have.

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: 00:32:49

Just discovered, if we feel like the

luckiest people on earth, it's such

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: 00:32:54

an honor and a privilege to serve

the people and pets in our community.

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: 00:33:01

Dixie: Thank you so much,

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: 00:33:02

Genie,

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: 00:33:02

for sharing the incredible

work of the Inner Pup.

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: 00:33:05

It's truly inspiring to see that

you're making a difference in the

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: 00:33:08

lives of pets and their owners.

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: 00:33:12

Genie: Thank you Dixie I

love the Innerview.

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: 00:33:15

As I said, you asked the most

wonderful questions and it's always

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: 00:33:21

a pleasure to talk about what we

do and hope we can spread the word.

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: 00:33:25

So thank you.

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: 00:33:26

Dixie: You are welcome.

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: 00:33:26

And I hope you can come

back on another time too.

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: 00:33:30

Genie: I would love to.

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: 00:33:31

Dixie: All right.

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: 00:33:32

Okay.

469

: 00:33:32

Thank you so much.

470

: 00:33:34

Genie: Thank you.

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: 00:33:35

Bye-bye.

472

: 00:33:37

And that's all the time we

have for today's episode.

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: 00:33:40

If you are in animal rescue, or if

you know someone that has a story that

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: 00:33:44

should be told, please contact us.

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: 00:33:46

We would love to have

you or them on the show

476

: 00:33:49

. Thanks for listening, and please

join us next week as we continue to

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: 00:33:53

explore the world of animal rescue.