EpiPaws – Age is More Than a Number!
This week Michelle Fern chats with Dr. Andria Beal the founder of EpiPaws Pet Age Test that helps pet owners find peace of mind by discovering their pet's age with an easy at-home epigenetic (DNA) test. Customers simply obtain a kit online or through a retailer, do an easy mouth swab on their pet, and send in the sample for analysis. Results are provided online and are downloadable, and include an age estimation, suggested birthday, life stage designation, and health insights catered to the life stage.
Listen to Episode #329 Now:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Michelle Fern: Hello, pet lovers, welcome to Best Bets for Pets.
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Michelle Fern: I'm your show host, Michelle Fern.
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Michelle Fern: So, you know, today we're gonna talk to a guest that developed this really cool product.
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Michelle Fern: And here's a little teaser for you.
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Michelle Fern: Age is just a number, or is it?
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Michelle Fern: Stay tuned, we'll be right back.
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Announcer: Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.
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Michelle Fern: Welcome back, everyone.
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Michelle Fern: I'd like to welcome Dr.
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Michelle Fern: Andria Beal.
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Michelle Fern: She is the founder and CEO of EpiPaws.
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Michelle Fern: Welcome, Dr.
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Michelle Fern: Andria.
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Andria Beal: Hi, Michelle, thank you for having me.
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Michelle Fern: I'm so excited to have you on.
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Michelle Fern: Before we talk about EpiPaws, can you give us a little background on yourself?
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Andria Beal: Yeah, definitely.
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Andria Beal: So I am a scientist by, I guess, training.
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Andria Beal: I was getting my PhD when I came up for this idea for my company.
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Andria Beal: And so really, I'm just, I love animals.
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Andria Beal: I love science.
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Andria Beal: I love outdoor activities.
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Andria Beal: And all of this kind of came together for me during my PhD to create this company.
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Michelle Fern: OK, so let's talk about EpiPaws.
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Michelle Fern: What is it?
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Andria Beal: So EpiPaws is an epigenetic biomarker company for dogs and cats.
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Andria Beal: And what that is, is we basically we test DNA, but we look at something called epigenetics, which is molecules that interact with the DNA.
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Andria Beal: We can do really cool things with epigenetics that we can't do with just regular DNA, such as age estimation, which is our product that we have on the market right now, where we can estimate age within a year of the actual age of the pet.
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Andria Beal: And we're also working on early disease biomarkers right now.
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Andria Beal: So, our hope is that we can start seeing disease coming before it becomes an actual disease and a problem.
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Andria Beal: And we might be able to do something to avoid disease development.
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Michelle Fern: Some of these developments, I mean, I am by no means a scientist, but it sounds like some of these developments are echoing what people are doing.
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Andria Beal: Absolutely.
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Andria Beal: So, actually, with our first product, where we estimate age, this was first done in humans for forensics.
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Andria Beal: So that way, at crime scenes, when they can pick up DNA, they can tell how old somebody is to add that to the profile, whether it's the victim or the criminal they're trying to catch, they can add that information in.
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Michelle Fern: And then, what about as far as using this type two Well, we're going to talk about this later, but there's your chronological age, and then there is your...
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Andria Beal: Biological age.
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Michelle Fern: Biological, thank you.
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Michelle Fern: Biological, it's almost Friday.
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Michelle Fern: Yeah.
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Michelle Fern: I record a lot on Thursdays.
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Michelle Fern: So yes, you're biological.
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Michelle Fern: So that's been done in people.
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Michelle Fern: So how does that relate to what EpiPaws does?
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Andria Beal: Yeah, so there's actually so many companies coming out right now with biological age.
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Andria Beal: We call them clocks.
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Andria Beal: So if I use that term, a biological age clock for humans.
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Andria Beal: And what this is, is basically we figured out a way to estimate how old someone seems, which is really telling someone how quickly are they aging.
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Andria Beal: So a good example would be we all know or have known someone who maybe looks older than you thought they were, or younger the other way around as well.
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Andria Beal: And so that would be your biological age.
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Andria Beal: You might be 50, but you look 70, and that's accelerated aging.
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Andria Beal: And typically, you see that discrepancy due to lifestyle choices.
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Andria Beal: Someone with a very unhealthy lifestyle probably has accelerated aging and probably looks older than they should.
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Andria Beal: So same thing can be done for our pets, and that's what we're working on.
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Andria Beal: It's a little bit different with pets.
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Andria Beal: It's actually maybe a little bit easier.
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Andria Beal: There's less lifestyle varieties to account for when it comes to pets, but still enough that some pets, I mean, some pets still get exposed to cigarette smoke, so that could still be a factor.
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Andria Beal: But some pets might get exercise, some might not.
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Andria Beal: Definitely a whole bunch of different ways to feed our animals, and that will contribute to how the aging rate is.
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Andria Beal: So we're doing very similar to humans, where they can measure biological age and suggest different things, like more exercise, different foods.
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Andria Beal: There's a whole bunch of supplements coming out now that affect aging rate.
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Andria Beal: And we can do all those things for our pets as well.
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Michelle Fern: You know, an extreme example with environment is, you know, I think of cats right away, because that's what I have right now.
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Michelle Fern: But there's cats that are living on the street and cats that are in homes.
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Andria Beal: Yes.
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Michelle Fern: You know, there's a difference.
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Michelle Fern: I've seen it in cats that have adopted me.
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Michelle Fern: With Sammy and Jethro, they were from the streets.
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Michelle Fern: They I can only guesstimate what their age was.
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Michelle Fern: And definitely it's a harder life when they're feral slash community cats.
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Michelle Fern: I think their age lifespan is estimated at generally six to seven years.
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Andria Beal: Oh, yeah.
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Michelle Fern: Which is a lot lower than and you know, cats that have homes.
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Andria Beal: Absolutely.
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Andria Beal: Yeah, there's definitely a big life expectancy difference between outdoor cats or even rescue dogs as well that have been in bad conditions, such as like a hoarding situation or puppy mills.
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Andria Beal: We actually we recently did a couple like age estimation tests for some puppy mill animals.
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Andria Beal: And it was amazing because we thought that these animals were much older.
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Andria Beal: They were in such bad condition.
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Andria Beal: They were just not kept.
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Andria Beal: Their hair was a mess.
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Andria Beal: Their teeth were a mess.
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Andria Beal: Like no care at all.
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Andria Beal: Underweight.
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Andria Beal: And when we we did their age estimates, we found out that they were all younger than they physically looked.
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Andria Beal: And now that time has gone by.
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Andria Beal: This was a little while ago, and they're in better health and everything.
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Andria Beal: They they're starting to look a little bit more like they should for their age.
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Andria Beal: But it was very deceiving when they first came in.
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Andria Beal: And so the the age test was really helpful to do that for them and figure out what kind of care plan they needed.
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Michelle Fern: Yeah, very good information.
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Michelle Fern: Let's talk about the importance of knowing for just everyone that's listening, biological age of your pet.
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Michelle Fern: So we tested Dennis.
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Michelle Fern: And Dennis, I can only guesstimate his age because he was abandoned.
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Michelle Fern: And he found me, he was meowing on one cold night, as cold as it gets in South Florida with a cold.
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Michelle Fern: So you can relate because you're local.
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Michelle Fern: So it's what, 40 degrees, I think it must have been.
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Michelle Fern: And he was meowing.
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Michelle Fern: I think he didn't like that.
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Michelle Fern: And I've determined he was abandoned because he knew what a refrigerator sounded like.
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Michelle Fern: It must have been inside a home.
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Michelle Fern: So we did a test with him, and you came back with 13 years and 10 months, and you have like a 12-month variation on age.
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Michelle Fern: And that's pretty close because I think he's about 14 and a half.
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Andria Beal: Okay.
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Michelle Fern: So really close.
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Michelle Fern: But let's talk about for, we had talked about biological and chronological age.
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Michelle Fern: What about for the pet parent?
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Michelle Fern: Why is it important to know what your cat or dog's actual age is?
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Michelle Fern: Especially in this day and age, so many people, which is great, are adopting from shelters.
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Andria Beal: Yeah, absolutely.
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Andria Beal: So it's important to know what kind of care plan they need.
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Andria Beal: Then a care plan would include everything from the food and exercise they should be getting.
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Andria Beal: Typically, there's certain milestones where they're transitioning from a young adult to a mature adult to a senior.
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Andria Beal: And at those different changes, typically the nutrition needs to shift a little bit.
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Andria Beal: It could be what kind of nutrients they're getting, or it could be how much calories they should be getting.
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Andria Beal: Those things will change over time.
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Andria Beal: So it's really helpful to know the age for that.
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Andria Beal: And then with exercise, that's another one.
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Andria Beal: Whether we're talking about a dog or a cat, they all should be getting some exercise.
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Andria Beal: And maybe exercise is a little bit more broad when it comes to dogs, because we typically, they can have, there's all kinds of breeds, and they could need different levels of exercise as is by breed.
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Andria Beal: But then with age, you also want to keep in mind that they might not need to, I don't know, climb walls anymore if they're that kind of athletic dog.
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Andria Beal: They need to change what kind of exercise they're getting.
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Andria Beal: A really big one that I've seen from my customers actually is knowing how to treat these age-related diseases as they're bound to come up.
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Andria Beal: And an age-related disease is something like chronic kidney disease or diabetes or a heart condition, something that we just associate with older age.
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Andria Beal: Arthritis is another one.
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Andria Beal: But sometimes when these things start creeping up or even worse, like tumors, a pet owner won't know what to do.
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Andria Beal: Like, what kind of treatment should we opt for?
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Andria Beal: You know, it's not just the cost of the different treatments.
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Andria Beal: It's also the burden on the animal.
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Andria Beal: Major surgeries for really old animals, we sometimes opt to not do those because the life extension we might see probably isn't worth it to the animal, and the kind of suffering they might go through for that surgery just for a little bit longer.
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Andria Beal: It's those tough decisions where knowing the age really helps the pet owner make that decision that might be right for their pet.
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Michelle Fern: This is great information.
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Michelle Fern: Do you think EpiPaws is, I guess, more beneficial for cats or for dogs, or it just depends?
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Andria Beal: I think it just depends.
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Andria Beal: I think it's great for both.
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Andria Beal: We see right off the bat, we saw more dog customers, but I do think that as far as this chronological age test goes, that there's probably more cats out there that need this.
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Andria Beal: There's much more, at least in the US., there's a lot of cats that get adopted off the streets.
00:11:45.924 --> 00:11:48.704
Andria Beal: Like you mentioned, you have some of your own.
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Andria Beal: I think that's much more common with cats.
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Andria Beal: But then again, there's a bunch of rescue dogs out there.
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Andria Beal: We're seeing them, for sure.
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Michelle Fern: I also think it's harder to tell cats' age.
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Michelle Fern: I mean, it's harder to tell their sex.
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Andria Beal: Yeah, and I feel like I agree with you on that.
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Andria Beal: I'm just...
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Michelle Fern: Their gender, I should say.
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Michelle Fern: Their gender.
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Michelle Fern: But you, their age is deceiving, too.
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Andria Beal: Yeah, I definitely agree that there's maybe less physical features that jump out to me when I'm looking at cats.
00:12:19.024 --> 00:12:21.864
Andria Beal: But I also haven't, I've always owned dogs.
00:12:21.864 --> 00:12:24.484
Andria Beal: So that could be why I feel like that as well.
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Andria Beal: But I'm glad you're saying that, because I feel like cats are harder to look at and like judge an age.
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Michelle Fern: Well, I've had both.
00:12:31.044 --> 00:12:34.664
Michelle Fern: And definitely, I think, you know, cats are trickier.
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Michelle Fern: I mean, dogs, sometimes you could tell by looking at their paws and if they're a puppy, how big they're going to get.
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Michelle Fern: That might be true for some breeds.
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Michelle Fern: But for cats, okay, forget it.
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Michelle Fern: Because once cats, in my opinion, once cats reach, say, I don't know, eight, nine months, I mean, Dennis, he was abandoned.
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Michelle Fern: We figure he was about 10, 11 months old.
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Michelle Fern: And there was a difference in that year.
00:13:00.964 --> 00:13:05.584
Michelle Fern: But cats can, I believe, become pregnant at six months.
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Michelle Fern: From six months to 12 months, there's not a huge difference.
00:13:10.264 --> 00:13:12.204
Michelle Fern: So it's definitely trickier.
00:13:12.204 --> 00:13:15.464
Michelle Fern: We're going to take a short break and we're going to come right back.
00:13:17.244 --> 00:13:18.824
Michelle Fern: Molly, here's your dinner.
00:13:20.744 --> 00:13:23.484
Michelle Fern: Zeus, that's not your food.
00:13:23.484 --> 00:13:25.724
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00:14:13.384 --> 00:14:14.384
Michelle Fern: petliferadio.com.
00:14:14.384 --> 00:14:25.362
Michelle Fern: Welcome back, everyone, we're talking to Dr.
00:14:25.362 --> 00:14:29.622
Michelle Fern: Andria, and she is the founder and CEO of EpiPaws.
00:14:29.622 --> 00:14:31.882
Michelle Fern: So let's talk about, Dr.
00:14:31.882 --> 00:14:33.862
Michelle Fern: Andria, how does it work?
00:14:33.862 --> 00:14:43.602
Michelle Fern: So someone's listening and they are, you know, wow, this is fascinating, I've always wondered, my fur babe, how old he or she is, what would they do?
00:14:43.602 --> 00:14:48.922
Andria Beal: They can find us on our website at epipaws.com, and it's really easy.
00:14:48.922 --> 00:14:57.242
Andria Beal: You can order a kit off the website, it comes in the mail, and all the instructions for how you swab that animal are in the kit, and then you mail it back.
00:14:57.242 --> 00:15:02.362
Michelle Fern: And you know, I have to say, I thought it'd be tricky because, and I have three cats right now.
00:15:02.362 --> 00:15:06.742
Michelle Fern: I have the smallest fur baby household that I've had in a long time.
00:15:06.742 --> 00:15:09.662
Michelle Fern: There's some of them are in fur baby heaven.
00:15:09.662 --> 00:15:14.122
Michelle Fern: So of my fur babes, Molly was born on my doorstep, so I know her age.
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Michelle Fern: Charlotte was a few months old.
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Michelle Fern: Dennis was the trickiest.
00:15:18.422 --> 00:15:21.742
Michelle Fern: And he's usually easy, but not always.
00:15:21.742 --> 00:15:24.102
Michelle Fern: He's become a little bit of a grumpy old man.
00:15:24.142 --> 00:15:29.062
Michelle Fern: He's the only, well, obviously, they're named right, they're named for their gender.
00:15:29.062 --> 00:15:30.902
Michelle Fern: So Dennis is the only dude.
00:15:30.902 --> 00:15:35.142
Michelle Fern: And so I thought he might be fussy, but he might be easy.
00:15:35.142 --> 00:15:39.222
Michelle Fern: And it was really simple to do this test, like super simple.
00:15:39.242 --> 00:15:40.622
Andria Beal: Oh, that's good.
00:15:40.622 --> 00:15:41.142
Andria Beal: Glad to hear.
00:15:41.142 --> 00:15:46.882
Andria Beal: Yeah, it can be, it can be challenging to get a mouse swab for some animals.
00:15:47.022 --> 00:15:49.822
Andria Beal: They get really wiggly, and they don't want it to happen.
00:15:49.822 --> 00:15:58.262
Andria Beal: So I always suggest that when you go to take that swab, have someone there to like help hold the pet still while you get the sample.
00:15:58.262 --> 00:16:03.862
Michelle Fern: Well, with cats, it's always a trick, but Dennis was very cooperative.
00:16:03.862 --> 00:16:11.962
Michelle Fern: What about the, and then I, you know, you just send it in and then you get the results back.
00:16:11.962 --> 00:16:13.782
Michelle Fern: How long does it take usually?
00:16:14.602 --> 00:16:26.902
Andria Beal: Yeah, it usually takes, here lately we get a lot of turnarounds in the four to five week range, but every now and then things pop up and it takes closer to the six week range.
00:16:26.902 --> 00:16:32.862
Andria Beal: So we always quote four to six weeks on getting a result.
00:16:32.862 --> 00:16:33.682
Michelle Fern: Okay.
00:16:33.682 --> 00:16:47.762
Michelle Fern: And when you send the results back to the pet parent, the age is generally, I talked about this in the first half, but you have a better, what's your range, like 10 months, 12 months accuracy?
00:16:47.762 --> 00:16:48.282
Andria Beal: Yeah.
00:16:48.282 --> 00:16:51.762
Andria Beal: So most samples are within plus or minus 12 months.
00:16:51.762 --> 00:17:07.542
Andria Beal: We do have, so in our validation, when we validated our tests, which the test was built on known age animals, the accuracy came back that most samples, like it's like a little over 90% are within that plus or minus 12 months.
00:17:07.862 --> 00:17:14.402
Andria Beal: And then we have 75% of samples coming within five months of the actual age of the pet.
00:17:14.402 --> 00:17:20.202
Andria Beal: But we always just tell everyone to expect it could be up to 12 months within that range.
00:17:20.202 --> 00:17:22.622
Michelle Fern: I was surprised, Dennis was pretty close.
00:17:22.622 --> 00:17:24.602
Michelle Fern: It was really surprising.
00:17:24.602 --> 00:17:30.102
Michelle Fern: And that's going to be his new birthday because, which is August 29th coming up.
00:17:30.682 --> 00:17:32.382
Michelle Fern: And so it's his new birthday.
00:17:32.382 --> 00:17:34.042
Michelle Fern: I never knew his birthday.
00:17:34.042 --> 00:17:34.282
Andria Beal: Yeah.
00:17:34.802 --> 00:17:39.022
Michelle Fern: Are you going to be offering testing for more than dogs and cats?
00:17:39.022 --> 00:17:43.962
Michelle Fern: I mean, people have all kinds of pets these days, although I don't know how you'd get a sample from an iguana.
00:17:43.962 --> 00:17:45.542
Announcer: Yes.
00:17:45.542 --> 00:17:50.722
Andria Beal: Actually, we're interested in making an age test for horses.
00:17:50.722 --> 00:17:51.622
Michelle Fern: Oh, yes.
00:17:51.622 --> 00:17:54.522
Michelle Fern: Before you said that, that's what popped into my head.
00:17:54.522 --> 00:17:58.522
Michelle Fern: I'm thinking I have Florida on the brain, so we have iguanas all over the place here.
00:17:59.362 --> 00:17:59.942
Andria Beal: Yup.
00:17:59.942 --> 00:18:10.502
Andria Beal: And then birds has been a suggestion to us, because there's some of those really long lived birds that end up getting passed down to family members, and they never know how old they are.
00:18:10.502 --> 00:18:12.002
Michelle Fern: That is a great point.
00:18:12.002 --> 00:18:19.042
Michelle Fern: A friend of mine had an unfortunate situation where a friend of hers passed on, and she inherited the bird.
00:18:19.962 --> 00:18:22.062
Michelle Fern: She wasn't aware how old.
00:18:22.062 --> 00:18:25.502
Michelle Fern: She thought the bird was 30, 40 years old, but had no idea.
00:18:25.542 --> 00:18:27.442
Andria Beal: Yeah, they lived crazy long time.
00:18:27.442 --> 00:18:34.322
Andria Beal: So, yeah, I think those would be our two next animal species that we would probably make a test for.
00:18:34.322 --> 00:18:40.682
Michelle Fern: You mentioned in the first half that another test that you're working on is like a disease.
00:18:40.682 --> 00:18:43.242
Michelle Fern: It would test for potential diseases.
00:18:43.242 --> 00:18:43.902
Andria Beal: Yeah.
00:18:43.902 --> 00:18:47.582
Andria Beal: So we're actually, we have a lot of things in the works.
00:18:47.582 --> 00:18:57.062
Andria Beal: So the next test that we're hoping to put out is a general biological age test to tell how healthy the animal is.
00:18:57.062 --> 00:19:01.762
Andria Beal: So that accelerated aging that I talked about, how old do they seem.
00:19:01.762 --> 00:19:16.202
Andria Beal: And with that first iteration, we can do these biological age clocks that kind of give us a sense of how quickly they're aging, but might not pinpoint what's wrong or why there's accelerated aging.
00:19:16.202 --> 00:19:24.582
Andria Beal: Our goal is that once we finish that test, we keep digging and we start looking for signs of disease development.
00:19:24.582 --> 00:19:32.982
Andria Beal: So eventually, we hope to have individual tests that can be used for disease detection.
00:19:32.982 --> 00:19:34.042
Michelle Fern: That's huge.
00:19:34.042 --> 00:19:34.602
Andria Beal: Yep.
00:19:34.602 --> 00:19:36.202
Michelle Fern: We do that in people now.
00:19:36.202 --> 00:19:55.622
Michelle Fern: So to do that more in our fur babes is huge, because if you have the knowledge that your fur babe is probably, I guess, predisposed to carrying or possibly at some point developing a certain disease, then you can prepare for it.
00:19:55.622 --> 00:19:56.402
Andria Beal: Absolutely.
00:19:56.402 --> 00:20:09.362
Andria Beal: And actually, with epigenetics, so here's a little, people are becoming more and more familiar with genetic testing, which gives you a genetic risk factor for developing a disease.
00:20:09.362 --> 00:20:13.362
Andria Beal: With epigenetics, it's more real-time measurement.
00:20:13.362 --> 00:20:22.362
Andria Beal: So instead of saying, oh, you have this certain gene, and so you have a higher risk of developing, say, chronic kidney disease.
00:20:22.362 --> 00:20:30.242
Andria Beal: We would say, your markers are changing, and you are on trajectory to develop chronic kidney disease.
00:20:30.242 --> 00:20:31.682
Andria Beal: Like it's inevitable.
00:20:31.682 --> 00:20:33.402
Andria Beal: We need to do something now.
00:20:33.402 --> 00:20:34.242
Michelle Fern: Wow.
00:20:34.242 --> 00:20:35.882
Michelle Fern: That's incredible.
00:20:35.882 --> 00:20:46.262
Michelle Fern: Where do you see EpiPaws in, say, I usually say five years, but for this case, I'm going to say three because it seems like you're already on a great path.
00:20:46.382 --> 00:20:49.502
Michelle Fern: Where do you see EpiPaws in three years?
00:20:49.502 --> 00:21:01.262
Andria Beal: In three years, we will, I think in the next three years, we'll have identified some sort of disease biomarker.
00:21:01.262 --> 00:21:06.002
Andria Beal: We're looking at so many different diseases right now and our data set is growing.
00:21:06.002 --> 00:21:12.902
Andria Beal: And I think our first disease biomarker will be done by then.
00:21:14.442 --> 00:21:28.462
Michelle Fern: But do you have any disease like a little history on Dennis, not too long after he adopted me, he ended up with having crystals in his urine, which is something common for male cats.
00:21:28.462 --> 00:21:33.602
Michelle Fern: And cats are very stoic creatures, so they don't tell you they're sick.
00:21:33.602 --> 00:21:45.982
Michelle Fern: So would something like that be something that you could detect for early to see if your male cat is predisposed to developing crystals in the urine, or is that too general?
00:21:45.982 --> 00:21:47.282
Andria Beal: It's possible.
00:21:47.282 --> 00:21:51.662
Andria Beal: I won't rule anything out just yet, on what we can and can't detect.
00:21:51.662 --> 00:21:57.042
Andria Beal: With that in particular, so right now our research is on mouse swabs.
00:21:57.042 --> 00:22:01.102
Andria Beal: We're looking to branch into looking at blood as well.
00:22:01.102 --> 00:22:05.462
Andria Beal: And we actually have an interest in looking at urine.
00:22:05.462 --> 00:22:18.162
Andria Beal: And I think that there could be potential that there would be DNA methylation markers that would change in the urine and help indicate that something like that is going to happen.
00:22:18.162 --> 00:22:20.842
Michelle Fern: This is really incredible testing that you're doing.
00:22:20.842 --> 00:22:29.742
Michelle Fern: And it's so interesting to me, the shows that I do, because in the pet world, we follow what's going on in the human world.
00:22:29.742 --> 00:22:33.582
Michelle Fern: So this kind of testing, we've been doing in people.
00:22:33.582 --> 00:22:38.982
Michelle Fern: Here it is, you know, probiotics, which is another hot topic.
00:22:38.982 --> 00:22:40.862
Michelle Fern: And it's been a hot topic for people.
00:22:41.362 --> 00:22:46.422
Michelle Fern: Now it's become very much a big concern and a big focus for pets.
00:22:46.422 --> 00:22:50.482
Michelle Fern: So your epigenetic testing is just incredible.
00:22:50.522 --> 00:23:00.482
Michelle Fern: And I see a future of just the incredible knowledge and the incredible help that this can give to the pet parent is just unbelievable.
00:23:00.482 --> 00:23:01.782
Andria Beal: Yeah, absolutely.
00:23:01.782 --> 00:23:07.782
Andria Beal: And you mentioned a moment ago about how cats can hide, you know, hide that they're sick.
00:23:07.782 --> 00:23:08.822
Andria Beal: They're very good at that.
00:23:09.022 --> 00:23:11.922
Andria Beal: Cats are notorious for hiding their pain.
00:23:11.942 --> 00:23:23.402
Andria Beal: And so that's one of the big things is even, you know, whether it's cats or dogs or if they are showing signs of pain, they still can't talk to us and tell us, well, what does hurt?
00:23:23.402 --> 00:23:29.282
Andria Beal: So it's these kind of tests that really help us understand our pets as well and what they need from us.
00:23:29.282 --> 00:23:30.282
Michelle Fern: Exactly.
00:23:30.282 --> 00:23:35.322
Michelle Fern: And there's really fascinating things going on in the science world when it comes to fur babes.
00:23:35.482 --> 00:23:38.822
Michelle Fern: And EpiPaws is at the forefront.
00:23:38.822 --> 00:23:43.062
Michelle Fern: So I can't wait to see what you have coming up next.
00:23:43.062 --> 00:23:44.182
Andria Beal: Well, thank you.
00:23:44.182 --> 00:23:47.582
Michelle Fern: So you shared that some of the testing that you're doing.
00:23:47.582 --> 00:23:52.982
Michelle Fern: Is there anything else that you can tell us that you're coming up with to say in the next year?
00:23:52.982 --> 00:24:00.902
Andria Beal: So yeah, in the next year, we should have our first version of this biological age test.
00:24:01.142 --> 00:24:18.182
Andria Beal: And I say version because as we get more and more samples, it'll probably change over time and we'll add in different markers or take out certain markers and it'll evolve over time to be more accurate and more informative of health for us.
00:24:18.182 --> 00:24:20.682
Andria Beal: Then the next year, we're hoping to have that out.
00:24:20.682 --> 00:24:25.582
Andria Beal: And actually people can join us and do research with us for this.
00:24:25.582 --> 00:24:26.582
Michelle Fern: How would they do that?
00:24:26.582 --> 00:24:31.682
Andria Beal: So on our website, there is a spot where you can sign up for research.
00:24:31.682 --> 00:24:41.602
Andria Beal: So if you go to epipaws.com up on the banner, it says research, you can click there, say you're a pet owner, and it'll have you sign up to participate.
00:24:41.602 --> 00:24:43.382
Andria Beal: And that's completely free.
00:24:43.382 --> 00:24:50.502
Andria Beal: You'll register your pet with us for research and we'll eventually, it's a little slow process right now.
00:24:50.502 --> 00:24:58.682
Andria Beal: We're not in full, we're not full speed on it yet, but we're slowly coming around and getting all the samples from all the participants.
00:24:58.682 --> 00:25:07.742
Andria Beal: But we'll send you a mouse swab, a free swab in the mail to send in your pet's CNA and be a part of this biological age research that we're doing.
00:25:07.742 --> 00:25:09.202
Michelle Fern: Oh, how fascinating.
00:25:09.202 --> 00:25:09.542
Michelle Fern: Dr.
00:25:09.542 --> 00:25:17.882
Michelle Fern: Andria, where can people purchase their own age test through EpiPaws and find out more about EpiPaws?
00:25:17.882 --> 00:25:20.962
Andria Beal: At our website, epipaws.com.
00:25:20.962 --> 00:25:23.902
Andria Beal: And we're also on social media as well.
00:25:24.202 --> 00:25:33.082
Andria Beal: So people can find us on Instagram or Facebook at EpiPaws for the number four pet, EpiPaws for Pets.
00:25:33.082 --> 00:25:36.082
Michelle Fern: I want to thank you so much for coming on Best Bets for Pets.
00:25:36.082 --> 00:25:38.582
Michelle Fern: I wish you amazing success.
00:25:38.582 --> 00:25:41.602
Michelle Fern: I can't wait to see what you're going to have next.
00:25:41.602 --> 00:25:42.182
Andria Beal: Thank you.
00:25:42.182 --> 00:25:43.262
Andria Beal: Thank you for having me.
00:25:43.262 --> 00:25:45.022
Michelle Fern: Thank you so much.
00:25:45.022 --> 00:25:51.822
Michelle Fern: I hope all of you enjoyed this show about EpiPaws with the founder and CEO of EpiPaws, Dr.
00:25:51.822 --> 00:25:52.642
Michelle Fern: Andria Beal.
00:25:53.162 --> 00:25:57.722
Michelle Fern: It was fascinating to find out Dennis' age because I really had no idea.
00:25:57.722 --> 00:25:58.682
Michelle Fern: I mean, I had an idea.
00:25:58.682 --> 00:26:00.882
Michelle Fern: I knew he was about 14-ish.
00:26:00.882 --> 00:26:05.862
Michelle Fern: He was about as old as Nicky, who is now in doggy heaven, of course.
00:26:05.862 --> 00:26:07.862
Michelle Fern: But I wasn't exactly sure.
00:26:07.862 --> 00:26:10.602
Michelle Fern: So it was really cool to get his age.
00:26:10.602 --> 00:26:14.122
Michelle Fern: I always thought he was kind of, you know, becoming a little grumpy old man.
00:26:14.122 --> 00:26:15.662
Michelle Fern: And hey, I was right.
00:26:15.662 --> 00:26:17.562
Michelle Fern: He is, but we love him.
00:26:17.562 --> 00:26:19.282
Michelle Fern: Dennis is, he's my cool dude.
00:26:19.662 --> 00:26:23.882
Michelle Fern: So I want to thank Dennis because he was the man.
00:26:23.882 --> 00:26:31.122
Michelle Fern: And he was just wonderful in, you know, letting me swab the inside of his mouth and do the testing.
00:26:31.122 --> 00:26:32.522
Michelle Fern: It was super easy.
00:26:32.522 --> 00:26:34.402
Michelle Fern: Check out epipaws.com.
00:26:34.402 --> 00:26:37.422
Michelle Fern: There is just a lot of great information.
00:26:37.422 --> 00:26:40.342
Michelle Fern: And it's really, I think it's really good and really good.
00:26:40.342 --> 00:26:47.502
Michelle Fern: Very informative to know your cat's age and your dog's age, especially if you're adopting from the shelter, because they just guess.
00:26:48.082 --> 00:26:53.462
Michelle Fern: There's definitely a large variation as to what your pet's actual age is.
00:26:53.462 --> 00:26:55.122
Michelle Fern: So it's really good to know.
00:26:55.122 --> 00:26:57.602
Michelle Fern: So I want to thank also Molly and Charlotte.
00:26:57.602 --> 00:27:01.962
Michelle Fern: They basically watched Dennis get his cheek swabbed.
00:27:01.962 --> 00:27:05.362
Michelle Fern: Thanks of course to everyone listening to Best Bets for Pets.
00:27:05.362 --> 00:27:10.882
Michelle Fern: I so appreciate your continued support of our show.
00:27:10.882 --> 00:27:12.682
Michelle Fern: So thank you so much.
00:27:12.682 --> 00:27:14.662
Michelle Fern: Of course, thank you again to Dr.
00:27:14.662 --> 00:27:19.942
Michelle Fern: Andria Beal of EpiPaws, the CEO and founder of EpiPaws.
00:27:19.942 --> 00:27:25.522
Michelle Fern: And of course, this show would not be the same without the magic of my producer, Mark Winter.
00:27:25.522 --> 00:27:28.302
Michelle Fern: So thank you, Mark, for working your magic.
00:27:28.302 --> 00:27:33.522
Michelle Fern: And hey, remember, you never know what we're gonna have next on Best Bets for Pets.
00:27:33.522 --> 00:27:39.542
Announcer: Let's talk pets, every week on demand, only on petliferadio.com.