June 25, 2024 • 28 mins
Don't miss this episode of Vetsplanation with guest Blake Dubé, who introduces a game-changer for pet emergencies—portable oxygen kits from Pawprint Oxygen. Dive into the uses, benefits, and real-life applications of having oxygen access for pets on-the-go. Whether you're a pet owner or a veterinary professional, this episode will equip you with knowledge to better care for pets in distress.
In this episode you will learn:
- The origin and development of Pawprint Oxygen, a portable oxygen solution for pets.
- Various scenarios where pets may urgently need oxygen, including during transportation and emergencies.
- How portable oxygen canisters work, their safety features, and ease of use compared to traditional oxygen tanks.
- Specific conditions in pets that benefit from supplemental oxygen, like heart failure, collapsed trachea, and respiratory distress.
- Insights into the use of oxygen therapy for both acute and chronic conditions in pets.
- Practical information on how pet owners can access and use these oxygen kits, including over-the-counter options.
- The additional support available for pet owners through Pawprint Oxygen’s customer service.
References:
Pawprint Oxygen's Website
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Sugerman (00:00):
All right, welcome to Vetsplanation, everybody.
I have a really awesome guesttoday, I'm very excited.
We have the CEO and founder,Blake Dubé, from Pawprint Oxygen
here with us today, who we'veused multiple times, so I'm
really excited to talk to youtoday.
Blake Dubé (00:14):
Awesome.
It's great to be here.
Thanks for having me on.
Dr. Sugerman (00:16):
Yeah, so how did you come up with this idea of
being able to get pets oxygen athome for pet parents.
Blake Dubé (00:23):
Yeah.
Really how we came up with it isme and my business partner were
actually in college and a localveterinarian approached us with
this problem that they didn'thave a way to transport oxygen
dependent pets.
And I was in engineeringcollege, I had been working on a
solution for a more portableoxygen tank.
And, we realized that maybe thiscould solve her problem and
(00:47):
help, just really just get petsfrom the small vet hospital over
to the ER.
And that was the very initialthought of it.
And then it just really grewfrom there into all of these
different applications becausewe realized that there's so many
reasons pets need oxygen, butthey just don't have access to
it.
Dr. Sugerman (01:04):
Yeah, we get that a lot, actually.
So we are a local ER, butsometimes we have to send our
pets over to specialtyhospitals, so that was really
big for us to be able to usethose portable oxygen tanks to
take them from, our ER to thespecialty hospital, which is 30
minutes away with no traffic.
Blake Dubé (01:21):
Yeah.
And we always say oxygendependent means oxygen
dependent, right?
So even if it's 5-10 minutes ifit was you and you were
personally being transported,you'd be in an ambulance with
oxygen on.
And unfortunately, just not toomany pets have that option.
So it's often on the pet ownerto be administering that oxygen
on the way.
And the really nice thing aboutthese canisters is that they're
(01:44):
nothing like those big, heavyoxygen tanks where, they're hard
to move and you're worried aboutthem in the car.
These are very, it's more likea, a can of sunscreen or shaving
cream or something like that.
So it's just safe for you as apet owner to use in your own
car.
Dr. Sugerman (01:57):
Absolutely.
They're, they're pretty small.
Like you said, they're likereally small little things.
And..
Blake Dubé (02:02):
Yup, and I have one here, if you can't see this,
basically it's, it's the size ofa water bottle and it weighs
less than your phone.
It's like a quarter of a pound.
So it's just so simple and easyto use and then switch out if
you need to use another one.
Dr. Sugerman (02:15):
Absolutely.
When, when this first came out,the first thing I thought of was
our portable oxygen tanks, whichare still like, I can't even
compare to how big they arethere, but they're big.
They're not, when they sayportable, they're not very
portable.
Like it's like portable with thedolly.
Blake Dubé (02:30):
And they're heavy.
Yeah.
They're heavy too.
And then, the scariest partabout it for a lot of people is
they're very high pressure.
People tend to be afraid ofoxygen or think it's dangerous
and really the only reason it'sdangerous or the main reason is
because of the pressure at whichit's held, right?
If you put anything under thatsuper high pressure, you're
gonna have to be careful.
So what we did is we just madeour canisters a lot lower
(02:52):
pressure.
So they're about 1/10th of thepressure, which means you can
feel safe bringing them aroundin the car and things like that.
And that also makes them a lotlighter because you don't need
that big, heavy tank to containall that pressure.
Dr. Sugerman (03:04):
Absolutely.
That's amazing.
So when we talk about like theseneeding oxygen, we talked about
transporting pets, but what aresome of the things that you see
pets needing oxygen for at home?
Blake Dubé (03:14):
Yeah, that's a great point.
So like you said, the transportwas our initial thought and we
thought, this is all it will beused for and things like that.
And then we started getting alot more calls once we put this
online.
And once we started talking tovets and vets were telling us,
hey, we're sending this homewith pet parents that, have pets
that might just go into thisrespiratory distress.
(03:34):
And it can happen for so manydifferent reasons.
Some very common ones, one ofour biggest conditions we help
with is heart failure orcongestive heart failure.
That's an example of condition,it affects 10 percent of all
dogs.
It's very common, especiallyamong those small breeds that we
know and love so much.
And what can happen is thosepets can decompensate and just
(03:55):
run into immediate trouble athome, right?
Where you need to get them rightback to the vet, but you need to
put them on oxygen to do that.
So heart failure is one of them.
Some of these conditions we canactually manage at home.
And get over that cycle ofdistress and get you back to
normal.
So you have these collapsedtrachea dogs, where their
(04:16):
trachea starts to collapse andthey start to have issues where
it's, I like to describe it asthe milkshake straw, right?
If you, If you suck too hard ona milkshake straw, it completely
closes, and that's what thesedogs run into, and that extra
oxygen can help them regulateagain, right?
To list some of the conditions,you have that heart failure,
that collapsed trachea, we havelaryngeal paralysis, which is a
(04:39):
somewhat similar mechanism tothat collapse trachea.
And then, now we've servedthousands and thousands of
customers, so we've seen kind ofeverything.
So it's in use for, for allsorts of things, common ones
include the heat stroke.
Even things as simple as anxietyfrom thunderstorms.
We do a lot of pulmonaryhypertension.
That kind of shows you there'sso many different conditions and
(05:01):
physiologies that ultimatelylead to, you need oxygen or you
have respiratory distress,right?
And that's where we help.
Dr. Sugerman (05:09):
And I also send them home with, or I talk to
people about it when they havedogs who have really flat faces,
brachycephalic syndrome.
I talk them constantly aboutthat, I'm like your dog is going
to have a problem during thesummer and you really need to
make sure that you havesomething you can quickly give
them.
And so this is a great way tojust have something available.
Blake Dubé (05:27):
Yeah, we do see a lot of the brachycephalic dogs
because as you said, especiallyin the summer, even a short walk
or even when you come home andthey get excited because you're
home now, that's the best partof their day.
They can get into that, thatvicious spiral as we call it,
where it's harder for them tobreathe and they can't catch up.
So a lot of times now, thisproduct is actually available
(05:49):
over the counter now.
Whereas it used to require aprescription.
So now it's a lot easier if youjust want to prepare for the
summer to just have a kit onhand.
Hopefully you never have to useit, but if you have it, you have
something to bring them back tonormal and get them to
professional care if necessary.
Dr. Sugerman (06:05):
And you were mentioning the kits.
So I know that it comes in likea mask and a tank.
So can you talk about those?
Blake Dubé (06:11):
Yeah, yeah.
So our most commonly usedproduct is this, what we call
this portable oxygen kit.
And it's a pretty small kit,probably weighs about three
pounds or something like that.
And it comes with a coupleoxygen canisters that I was
demonstrating earlier.
So you might get between threeand six, depending on the size
of your pet.
And then you're going to get aPureVent pet oxygen mask, which
(06:33):
I have over here as well.
And we have three sizes of this.
So the correct one is going tocome with whatever kit you
order, because it's just basedon your pet's breed and size.
So you get this and that comeswith some oxygen tubing as well.
And then you get a little oxygenregulator that's already preset
to the flow rate that's best foryour pet's weight.
(06:54):
And I say regulator and peoplemight picture this big, clunky
engineering thing that you'reused to with the double dials
and stuff on top of a tank.
This is really just thishandheld little palm sized
device that you just pop intothe top of the oxygen canister
and you twist and it immediatelystarts flowing oxygen.
So this was truly designed that,if you get it and you don't
(07:19):
teach yourself or train at all,you can figure it out on the
spot in about five seconds.
So you have that canister, theregulator and the mask
essentially, and that is whatyou'll use for these, I would
say, short episodes of distress,which is more common.
Dr. Sugerman (07:34):
And how long do those canisters last for?
Blake Dubé (07:37):
So each canister will last up to 30 minutes.
Now it depends on the weight ofyour pet.
We'll give you a higher flowrates, the oxygen will come out
faster for a bigger pet, so theycould go as low as 5 to 10
minutes.
But typically you're getting akit that's gonna last you the
whole thing between 30 and 90minutes.
And that's generally more thansufficient for a lot of these
(08:00):
conditions we're dealing withbecause fortunately pets don't
get these kind of this chronicneed this long term need for
oxygen quite as much as humansdo, right?
For humans, you might be used toseeing, if grandma maybe has an
oxygen tank.
That she needs thatsupplementation 24/7 or
something like that.
Luckily that's less common inpets.
(08:22):
But what's more common is thiskind of quick need for oxygen.
It's acute need, and that's why,we do have options for the long
term.
These oxygen chambers that youwould put your pet in.
That's actually less common, andmost of the time you just need
this kind of like little boost.
It's almost like a rescueinhaler type of use case, and
that's what most pets need.
Dr. Sugerman (08:43):
What about the, the oxygen chambers?
So I've actually talked topeople who breed brachycephalic
dogs, again, so flat faced dogs.
That they use it for their,their little babies, the
neonates.
Blake Dubé (08:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That would be a good example ofwhen you might need, let's say,
hours of oxygen compared tominutes, and that's how we
differentiate these.
So some other use cases for thatis sometimes we'll get a dog
with pneumonia that is doingwell, at the hospital and they
don't necessarily need the 24/7attention vet care, but they do
(09:15):
need, let's say, 40 percentoxygen for the next two weeks or
so, and that can get reallydifficult as a burden, both on
the hospital and for the petowner, because that's very
expensive.
So for certain conditions whereyou don't need the 24/7 care,
but you really just need longerterm oxygen.
We will actually sell and/orrent an oxygen chamber which
(09:37):
kind of looks like a crate for adog, but it's meant to set at a
certain oxygen level, just likeyou would in the clinic.
And then we supply that with anoxygen concentrator or
generator.
And that is very similar tosomething you might see grandma
use at home, right?
So we still don't deal with anyof those high pressure tanks.
We stay away from that, butthese oxygen generators, what
(09:59):
they do is they take your roomair and they concentrate it and
purify it so that 99 percentoxygen, about, is coming out and
we'll fill the cage up with thatup to the recommended percentage
that your vet recommends.
And then you can potentiallygive some home oxygen care to
your pet instead of keeping themin the vet clinic for days and
(10:20):
weeks.
Dr. Sugerman (10:21):
Yeah.
And that's amazing.
We have lots of pets like thatwho have like pneumonia, I think
is the most common one wherethey need it for, for days.
But if we keep that pet inoxygen, that means the next pet
who needs oxygen, we don't havea tank for them so I think
that's a fantastic thing to beable to offer to them at home.
Blake Dubé (10:38):
Yeah, I think it's helped a lot of..
It's helped a lot of pet parentsget more comfortable with their
pets treatment.
And sometimes, sometimes it is apet's time, right?
For palliative care and thingslike that, that's another use
case that, it's sometimes hardto talk about, but we've, we've
helped a lot of pet parentsthat, they're in the hospital,
they're forced to make thisreally difficult decision.
(10:58):
They haven't gotten to saygoodbye.
Maybe they haven't had the kidsin to say goodbye or something
like that.
And we're bridging that gap forthe veterinarian and the pet
owner, to say, okay, how longwould you like this a week or
two weeks?
And, then they're able to bringtheir pet home with a reasonable
quality of life.
And I don't think anyone wouldargue that we want a pet living
in the oxygen chamber for monthson end or anything like that.
(11:21):
They either get better after acouple weeks or something like
that, and then, then you're outand you're good to go, or it's
that bridge to get comfortableand say goodbye.
And that's been one of thehardest, but really the most
rewarding parts of this businessis seeing how much we can
affect.
And, and improve that kind ofpalliative and end of life
experience for, for a certainpatient population.
(11:43):
This is by no means everyone we,we deal with, but it's, it's
definitely been nice to be ableto help out.
Dr. Sugerman (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
My last patient that I had rentone of the masks from you guys,
it unfortunately was a end oflife palliative care, type case,
and she was very anemic, meaningshe didn't have a lot of red
blood cells.
So she just needed a little bitof extra time for them to decide
whether this was going to be theright choice for them or not.
And so that definitely helpedgive them an extra two to three
(12:10):
weeks.
Blake Dubé (12:11):
Yeah.
And sometimes we're, we'rereally pleasantly surprised by
how much better a pet might doat home without the anxiety of
the veterinary clinic and thingslike that.
And, that, that type of product,the oxygen chamber and the
oxygen generator that is on aprescription.
So what we'll do is if you'reinterested in that you come to
us and we actually work withyour vet to say, is this right
(12:32):
for your pet?
Can they come out of 24/7 care?
What's the oxygen level they'redoing well at in the hospital
and can we replicate that athome?
So it is very much a likeholding your hand throughout the
whole process to make sure.
We're getting the best resultbecause, your vet knows your pet
the best and they need to beadvising on that.
Oftentimes, we're, we're mostlydealing with these oxygen kits
(12:54):
that are getting you over those,those scary humps or something
like that.
But, we deal with the wholespectrum.
So we say, when you need oxygen,come to us and we will find the
right thing for you.
Dr. Sugerman (13:04):
And so just to clarify, the mask, you don't
necessarily, and the smallercanisters, you don't necessarily
need to have a prescription for.
The generator, or the oxygenconcentrators, and the tanks are
usually the ones you do need aprescription for.
Is that correct?
Blake Dubé (13:16):
That's correct.
Yep.
Yep, exactly.
So yeah, the kits can just bepurchased right on our website.
And it's pretty easy to do and alot of times veterinarians will
have them in their clinic aswell because they want to have
them ready for it.
Sometimes when you need oxygen,you need it, you know,
yesterday.
Right?
Yeah, you're like, we need thisright now.
So it helps when veterinarianshave this, so they're ready to
(13:37):
send you out to the ER oroftentimes they will have them
and, be able to sell them to youas the client and say, Hey, take
this home.
But if they don't yet have themin their clinic, you can always
come to us and order it.
And then the oxygen chamber andoxygen generator, as you said,
that, that is on a prescription.
And a lot of times, onceveterinarians use us once,
they're familiar with ourservice.
(13:58):
We're their teammate in this.
So they'll even recommend us toother pet owners.
The goal is that it's not all onyou as a pet owner, as a pet
parent to figure out youroptions.
Cause that can be reallystressful.
It often happens at 2 a.m.
on a Saturday too.
It's always very stressful.
So our goal is, we're alwaysworking with vets to say, we're
(14:19):
here and you can help your petparents out by recommending us.
Dr. Sugerman (14:22):
I know we've talked a lot about dogs so far.
This works for dogs, cats, couldwork for small mammals,
everybody, right?
Blake Dubé (14:30):
Exactly.
We, we do, I would say likesmaller, smaller dogs are most
common because they tend to bethe ones with some of those
conditions I mentioned.
The heart failure, the collapsedtrachea, and things like that.
So we do mostly service smalldogs, but we have quite a lot of
cats, probably 10 percent of thepets we help out are cats and
feline asthma is probably the..
Dr. Sugerman (14:51):
Yes.
Blake Dubé (14:52):
biggest um, or I should say feline upper airway
disease often mischaracterizedas feline asthma.
But we help a lot, a lot ofcats.
And the first question we getis, how would a cat ever
tolerate
Dr. Sugerman (15:05):
It's amazing they do.
Blake Dubé (15:07):
And they do, right?
So it's funny if they don't needoxygen and you try to put this
on, they're not going to want tohave anything to do with it.
But they do have this responsewhere they understand something
from that mask.
It's helping them.
And it's often used in tandemwith an inhaler.
So if you have that felineasthma cat, you can open up the
airway with that inhaler andthen they can accept the oxygen
(15:28):
better.
So we use them both.
But we always do an end of yearwrap up where we show just all
the diverse species that we'vehelped out because it's, it's a
lot of dogs and cats, but wehave had goats, we've had a Gila
monster.
A lot of pocket pets, right?
Lots of pocket pets.
We've had a common pigeon thatsomeone had rescued.
Dr. Sugerman (15:47):
Aww.
Blake Dubé (15:48):
And they were, yeah, and we've actually been used in
the national aviary here inPittsburgh.
They've used it during theirfield checks, right?
Cause when, when birds haverespiratory distress, it's a
very serious event.
So they're using this to makesure they don't get too
stressed.
Dr. Sugerman (16:02):
That's amazing.
I feel like this can be used inso many aspects too, like zoo
medicine and all sorts ofthings.
Blake Dubé (16:09):
Oh, and it speaks to really how we started it and how
we've grown since then, becausewe just made it for the one use
case.
It was transporting dogs andcats from one hospital to the
other.
And it was really theveterinarians.
Once you put it in their hands,they are realizing all of these
different places they can useit.
So we get calls all the time of,I sent it home with this patient
(16:30):
and it did really, really well,or I was using it for this.
So it's really by us beingingrained with the veterinary
community and, and meeting allthese vets at these conferences,
it's helped us stay in touchthere and really learn like just
the true scope of what oxygen isneeded for in vet medicine,
which is a lot.
Dr. Sugerman (16:47):
A lot.
Yeah, exactly.
You were mentioning about themask too with cats.
When they have asthma, a lot oftimes they're already getting an
inhaler that's given through amask.
So a lot of those cats already,been conditioned to having a
mask on them luckily.
And even then, like we talk alot about how to help condition
them when they aren't used tothat by putting catnip in it or
(17:09):
treats or something that smellsreally good in it too.
Blake Dubé (17:13):
Yeah, that's a great point.
We have a lot of tips on treattraining and things like that.
Sometimes it's as simple as,especially for dogs, you know
pulling the mask out when youget it and putting it near your
face like this is safe for me soit's safe for you.
And then we go into some treattraining tips and stuff like
that because of course weoccasionally have dogs that are
a little more sensitive tothings around their face, but
(17:35):
really we've been amazed withjust like how great the
compliance has been with this.
We thought it would be thehardest thing.
So sometimes that's why peoplethink, maybe I'll get an oxygen
chamber because I'm not sure mydog or cat will accept a mask.
And that's a great option.
But often we say, hey, try theoxygen kit first.
(17:56):
We're never trying to sell yousomething you don't need, right?
It's just what your pet needs.
And we often have a lot of greatresults there too.
Dr. Sugerman (18:03):
For your oxygen chambers, how do you do with the
humidity in there when they'rein there?
Blake Dubé (18:09):
That's a great question.
So we find that, yeah, the heat,the humidity and then the carbon
dioxide that your pet isexhaling are all things that
could become a potentialproblem.
And that's why whenever someonesays I'm going to just take a
storage container and pumpoxygen into it, like a box, we'd
say, no, no, no, no, you'redoing, you're doing more harm
than good.
So how our, how our oxygenchamber works is it has
(18:32):
something called this Venturisystem that the oxygen goes
through to get into the cage.
And what that does is itbasically as the oxygen goes
through it, it sucks in extraroom air.
In order to dilute the oxygenconcentration, because your vet
is probably going to recommend,40 to 60 percent oxygen in the
chamber.
(18:52):
What you don't want is 100percent oxygen for that long of
a duration, right?
That can be dangerous in itself.
You could be looking at oxygentoxicity there.
So how we do that is we dilutethe incoming oxygen stream with
extra room air to get down tothat, let's say, 40%.
And what that does is multiplythe overall airflow.
(19:14):
So you're having a lot of airexchange in that cage.
So to answer your question, it'sessentially air exchange.
We're making sure that a lot ofair is coming in and out of that
cage, which is going to dealwith the CO2, the heat and the
humidity, and that's going to bereally hard to do with any other
kind of box or crate orsomething like that.
(19:35):
That, that's why your oxygenchamber at the vet can be very,
very expensive because it'sactually a very complicated
piece of machinery.
Dr. Sugerman (19:42):
Yeah, we used to so long, long time ago when I
was a technician, we didn'treally have oxygen cages and we
would just put saran wrap aroundthe cage doors, yes.
But that was terrible becauseone, we couldn't get a lot of
oxygen in, but two, it also justheated up that, that metal cage
so quickly.
Blake Dubé (20:01):
Yeah.
It's amazing to see how hot itwill get in there without the
proper oxygen flow rate orsomething like that.
We even have, ice packs you canput in and things like that.
But basically what we say is, ifyou're following our
recommendations and you get theright size chamber and you put
the right flow rate of oxygenin, it's going to be totally
safe.
We make it so it's very easy todo at home.
(20:23):
But you just have to have theright equipment to, to do it.
Dr. Sugerman (20:26):
Absolutely.
Blake Dubé (20:28):
Yeah, we've had a lot of good results though with
it.
And it's been, like I said,really, that's been a rewarding
part where you, that's just apet in an oxygen chamber is
stressful for both yourveterinarian and your pet
parent.
So if we can, if we can have apatient where it's appropriate
to do that at home, it's reallya win win situation.
Dr. Sugerman (20:44):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Like I said, we, we use it allthe time at our clinic.
We use, I talk to people aboutit all the time just because we
want to make sure that they'reas comfortable as possible.
Especially if that means thatthey're at home.
Blake Dubé (20:56):
Exactly.
Dr. Sugerman (20:58):
Is there anything else that you wanted to share
with us Blake?
Blake Dubé (21:00):
Yeah, so actually one thing that kind of also
speaks to just like thediversity of how this is used is
we actually just went to afirefighter conference because
we, we had realized how many ofour oxygen masks were being
bought and shipped right to firedepartments.
And, yeah, so basically whathappens is a lot, a lot more
(21:21):
pets are rescued from housefires than people because
there's a person you just walkout or maybe you're at work and
the fire happens while you're atwork, pet gets scared and goes
to their hiding place or theycan't get out of the house.
And they're more susceptible tosmoke inhalation because they're
smaller.
We're really working onequipping these fire departments
(21:41):
with the right tools to giveoxygen and save these pets.
And the response has been justreally, really great.
These are now in the hands of acouple thousand fire departments
and it's helped save a lot ofpets lives.
Dr. Sugerman (21:53):
That's amazing.
We actually do have a lot ofpeople or a lot of firefighters
that do bring pets into ourclinic as well.
And, but I usually see them justwith a regular mask on the pet,
which is, definitely verydifficult to get that.
Like it just, it just doesn'tfit.
Blake Dubé (22:08):
Exactly.
Yeah.
And they're like trying to makesomething work or they're,
taking a mask that should be foranother person and using for
that.
So yeah, and the response hasjust been great because fire
departments, these, thesefirefighters are often, they're
the first responders.
They need to be equipped to dothis.
And so we've been doing a lot oftrainings on that, too.
Dr. Sugerman (22:27):
Very cool.
With that little canister thatyou have right there, is that
full?
Blake Dubé (22:31):
Yeah.
It is.
Yep.
Dr. Sugerman (22:33):
So I saw you very easily take off the concentrator
on it, which I thought wasamazing, because you can tell,
obviously lots of people, again,like you said, get very nervous
about it.
It just snaps on, snaps off.
There's no sound to it after youtook it off.
Blake Dubé (22:49):
Yep, exactly.
And that that is truly it'seither.
That's why the flow rate isalready set on this little
regulator.
And so you're just going to getthe right one.
It's going to work out of thebox.
And we say it's either in andit's working.
You can hear it coming out orit's off, and it's not working,
right?
And there's a little gauge onhere also that just shows you as
it's emptying, when it gets tored, it's empty.
(23:11):
And if you ever forgot anyinstructions when you get it,
all of them are right on theback of the canister as well.
Because there's really onlythree instructions, right?
How to put this in and twist andstart the flow.
Really made it so that, whenyou're having an event like
this, it will be stressful,right?
No matter how much you prep forsomething, you're just, it's
going to be a little harebrainedand you're going to be very
stressed.
(23:32):
So we don't want this to be partof your stress, right?
It's just going to work rightout of the box.
And then these are actuallyreally nice.
These just get recycled, thecanisters just get recycled in
your home recycling bin whenthey're empty.
So then if you need more, onceyou run out, you can always call
us and we'll send you more.
But it just means you don't haveto worry about sending something
(23:52):
back to get refilled orreturning it to your vet.
It's just very easy.
Dr. Sugerman (23:57):
That's amazing.
You're talking about contactingyou guys as well.
I know I, I found before in thepast, it's super easy to call
you and email you.
It seems like you guys are soquick to respond.
Blake Dubé (24:09):
Yeah.
i'm really glad you say thatbecause that's probably One of
our prouder qualities is we, werealized like right at the
beginning that like, we need to,we're, we're your partner in
this, and it's our job that whenyou call in and you get a human
who cares about your pet almostas much as you do.
Right outside my door, we haveour customer success team, which
(24:30):
is three wonderful people, allof whom who have worked with
animals in the past.
And they are literally, if you.
If you don't feel comfortablewith what you're looking at
online, you can call them andthey'll walk you through it
right on the phone.
They'll do everything for you.
And we just realized that's,that's an especially important
part of this journey becauseoftentimes.
(24:52):
When you're getting veterinarycare, it is, you are in the dark
sometimes through no fault ofthe vet, right?
You're just, you want to knowmore, you're confused.
So we can take that and we canreally work with you.
So I, I do encourage people, ifyou have questions about this,
call or email in and you'll seehow we work with you.
Dr. Sugerman (25:10):
And a lot of times it's not even that the fact that
us as veterinarians aren't ableto talk to them or anything.
We, there's some people justdon't know about these things,
they don't know about theproducts that are being made and
all these really coolinnovations that are being, that
are coming out.
Blake Dubé (25:23):
Oh, exactly.
Yeah, I know.
And, and especially the, theone, one thing that we like to
try to help with, with theoxygen chambers and the oxygen
generators is, that can be areally difficult situation
that's happening at, let's sayreally late at night in the ER
and your ER vet might've worked14 hours and they might have be
actually required to go home anda new vet might be required to
(25:45):
take up your case because ifthey work so hard and they need,
they need a break.
So hopefully we can, that'swhere we are there to work with
them because we've probablyworked with your vet before and
they're familiar with us.
And we can be that extension andreally work you through this.
So we really say we are apartner to the veterinarian.
So that we can help their petparent just as much as they
(26:06):
would.
Dr. Sugerman (26:07):
Absolutely, and I am the overnight vet.
Blake Dubé (26:09):
Oh,
Dr. Sugerman (26:09):
yeah, I get that, but I, luckily so far all my
cases I've been able to contactsomebody during the day.
I've not needed it at 2am, but,
Blake Dubé (26:18):
That's yeah, you're not the one calling trying to
call grandma's oxygen supplier 2a.m.
and getting laughed out of thedoor.
It's, it's, we've heard all ofthose stories, right?
So I'm, I'm very glad that, youknow about us and you've had
success working with us too.
Dr. Sugerman (26:33):
yeah, absolutely.
Anything else that you wanted toshare with us, Blake?
Blake Dubé (26:36):
No, I don't think so.
I just really appreciate youhaving me on.
We really love any opportunityto talk with our, our pet
parents and our vets who havereally made us, or they put us
where we're at right now,especially our vets, right?
We wouldn't be here if we didn'thave them recommending our
products and really teaching usall these amazing ways to use
it.
Dr. Sugerman (26:54):
Or just having that one veterinarian who asked
you for a solution?
Blake Dubé (26:57):
Yeah.
Oh, exactly.
No, that's, that's huge.
Yeah.
Dr. Sugerman (27:01):
So I always ask a question at the end of my
interviews here.
So I want to know, do you haveany pets?
Blake Dubé (27:08):
Ah, that's a great question.
So personally, this alwaysshocks people.
I do not have a pet right now.
My business partner, Mark hasTucker, the golden retriever.
And actually, I can show you, heis featured on our large dog
kit.
Dr. Sugerman (27:24):
Aww, cute.
Blake Dubé (27:25):
Yep.
Yep.
Tucker is our, is our officedog, you could say, who comes in
every single day.
And yeah, what I look forward tois when I don't have to travel
to so many veterinaryconferences, I think we'd be
getting a dog.
Yes.
Dr. Sugerman (27:38):
Nice.
You should at least considerlike a goldfish or a reptile or
something.
Blake Dubé (27:42):
Oh, that would be a, you know what?
You're right.
A little less, a little lesscare involved.
That'd be awesome.
Or a cat.
I think.
Dr. Sugerman (27:48):
Or a cat.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
All right.
Thank you, Blake.
I appreciate this so much thatyou've come on to talk to us.
I hope that this will help a lotmore pet parents to be able to
find you guys.
Blake Dubé (27:58):
Awesome.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Dr. Sugerman (28:00):
Absolutely, and thank you everybody for tuning
in, make sure to keep your petshappy, healthy, and safe.
Thanks guys.
All right, welcome to Vetsplanation, everybody.
I have a really awesome guesttoday, I'm very excited.
We have the CEO and founder,Blake Dubé, from Pawprint Oxygen
here with us today, who we'veused multiple times, so I'm
really excited to talk to youtoday.
Blake Dubé (00:14):
Awesome.
It's great to be here.
Thanks for having me on.
Dr. Sugerman (00:16):
Yeah, so how did you come up with this idea of
being able to get pets oxygen athome for pet parents.
Blake Dubé (00:23):
Yeah.
Really how we came up with it isme and my business partner were
actually in college and a localveterinarian approached us with
this problem that they didn'thave a way to transport oxygen
dependent pets.
And I was in engineeringcollege, I had been working on a
solution for a more portableoxygen tank.
And, we realized that maybe thiscould solve her problem and
(00:47):
help, just really just get petsfrom the small vet hospital over
to the ER.
And that was the very initialthought of it.
And then it just really grewfrom there into all of these
different applications becausewe realized that there's so many
reasons pets need oxygen, butthey just don't have access to
it.
Dr. Sugerman (01:04):
Yeah, we get that a lot, actually.
So we are a local ER, butsometimes we have to send our
pets over to specialtyhospitals, so that was really
big for us to be able to usethose portable oxygen tanks to
take them from, our ER to thespecialty hospital, which is 30
minutes away with no traffic.
Blake Dubé (01:21):
Yeah.
And we always say oxygendependent means oxygen
dependent, right?
So even if it's 5-10 minutes ifit was you and you were
personally being transported,you'd be in an ambulance with
oxygen on.
And unfortunately, just not toomany pets have that option.
So it's often on the pet ownerto be administering that oxygen
on the way.
And the really nice thing aboutthese canisters is that they're
(01:44):
nothing like those big, heavyoxygen tanks where, they're hard
to move and you're worried aboutthem in the car.
These are very, it's more likea, a can of sunscreen or shaving
cream or something like that.
So it's just safe for you as apet owner to use in your own
car.
Dr. Sugerman (01:57):
Absolutely.
They're, they're pretty small.
Like you said, they're likereally small little things.
And..
Blake Dubé (02:02):
Yup, and I have one here, if you can't see this,
basically it's, it's the size ofa water bottle and it weighs
less than your phone.
It's like a quarter of a pound.
So it's just so simple and easyto use and then switch out if
you need to use another one.
Dr. Sugerman (02:15):
Absolutely.
When, when this first came out,the first thing I thought of was
our portable oxygen tanks, whichare still like, I can't even
compare to how big they arethere, but they're big.
They're not, when they sayportable, they're not very
portable.
Like it's like portable with thedolly.
Blake Dubé (02:30):
And they're heavy.
Yeah.
They're heavy too.
And then, the scariest partabout it for a lot of people is
they're very high pressure.
People tend to be afraid ofoxygen or think it's dangerous
and really the only reason it'sdangerous or the main reason is
because of the pressure at whichit's held, right?
If you put anything under thatsuper high pressure, you're
gonna have to be careful.
So what we did is we just madeour canisters a lot lower
(02:52):
pressure.
So they're about 1/10th of thepressure, which means you can
feel safe bringing them aroundin the car and things like that.
And that also makes them a lotlighter because you don't need
that big, heavy tank to containall that pressure.
Dr. Sugerman (03:04):
Absolutely.
That's amazing.
So when we talk about like theseneeding oxygen, we talked about
transporting pets, but what aresome of the things that you see
pets needing oxygen for at home?
Blake Dubé (03:14):
Yeah, that's a great point.
So like you said, the transportwas our initial thought and we
thought, this is all it will beused for and things like that.
And then we started getting alot more calls once we put this
online.
And once we started talking tovets and vets were telling us,
hey, we're sending this homewith pet parents that, have pets
that might just go into thisrespiratory distress.
(03:34):
And it can happen for so manydifferent reasons.
Some very common ones, one ofour biggest conditions we help
with is heart failure orcongestive heart failure.
That's an example of condition,it affects 10 percent of all
dogs.
It's very common, especiallyamong those small breeds that we
know and love so much.
And what can happen is thosepets can decompensate and just
(03:55):
run into immediate trouble athome, right?
Where you need to get them rightback to the vet, but you need to
put them on oxygen to do that.
So heart failure is one of them.
Some of these conditions we canactually manage at home.
And get over that cycle ofdistress and get you back to
normal.
So you have these collapsedtrachea dogs, where their
(04:16):
trachea starts to collapse andthey start to have issues where
it's, I like to describe it asthe milkshake straw, right?
If you, If you suck too hard ona milkshake straw, it completely
closes, and that's what thesedogs run into, and that extra
oxygen can help them regulateagain, right?
To list some of the conditions,you have that heart failure,
that collapsed trachea, we havelaryngeal paralysis, which is a
(04:39):
somewhat similar mechanism tothat collapse trachea.
And then, now we've servedthousands and thousands of
customers, so we've seen kind ofeverything.
So it's in use for, for allsorts of things, common ones
include the heat stroke.
Even things as simple as anxietyfrom thunderstorms.
We do a lot of pulmonaryhypertension.
That kind of shows you there'sso many different conditions and
(05:01):
physiologies that ultimatelylead to, you need oxygen or you
have respiratory distress,right?
And that's where we help.
Dr. Sugerman (05:09):
And I also send them home with, or I talk to
people about it when they havedogs who have really flat faces,
brachycephalic syndrome.
I talk them constantly aboutthat, I'm like your dog is going
to have a problem during thesummer and you really need to
make sure that you havesomething you can quickly give
them.
And so this is a great way tojust have something available.
Blake Dubé (05:27):
Yeah, we do see a lot of the brachycephalic dogs
because as you said, especiallyin the summer, even a short walk
or even when you come home andthey get excited because you're
home now, that's the best partof their day.
They can get into that, thatvicious spiral as we call it,
where it's harder for them tobreathe and they can't catch up.
So a lot of times now, thisproduct is actually available
(05:49):
over the counter now.
Whereas it used to require aprescription.
So now it's a lot easier if youjust want to prepare for the
summer to just have a kit onhand.
Hopefully you never have to useit, but if you have it, you have
something to bring them back tonormal and get them to
professional care if necessary.
Dr. Sugerman (06:05):
And you were mentioning the kits.
So I know that it comes in likea mask and a tank.
So can you talk about those?
Blake Dubé (06:11):
Yeah, yeah.
So our most commonly usedproduct is this, what we call
this portable oxygen kit.
And it's a pretty small kit,probably weighs about three
pounds or something like that.
And it comes with a coupleoxygen canisters that I was
demonstrating earlier.
So you might get between threeand six, depending on the size
of your pet.
And then you're going to get aPureVent pet oxygen mask, which
(06:33):
I have over here as well.
And we have three sizes of this.
So the correct one is going tocome with whatever kit you
order, because it's just basedon your pet's breed and size.
So you get this and that comeswith some oxygen tubing as well.
And then you get a little oxygenregulator that's already preset
to the flow rate that's best foryour pet's weight.
(06:54):
And I say regulator and peoplemight picture this big, clunky
engineering thing that you'reused to with the double dials
and stuff on top of a tank.
This is really just thishandheld little palm sized
device that you just pop intothe top of the oxygen canister
and you twist and it immediatelystarts flowing oxygen.
So this was truly designed that,if you get it and you don't
(07:19):
teach yourself or train at all,you can figure it out on the
spot in about five seconds.
So you have that canister, theregulator and the mask
essentially, and that is whatyou'll use for these, I would
say, short episodes of distress,which is more common.
Dr. Sugerman (07:34):
And how long do those canisters last for?
Blake Dubé (07:37):
So each canister will last up to 30 minutes.
Now it depends on the weight ofyour pet.
We'll give you a higher flowrates, the oxygen will come out
faster for a bigger pet, so theycould go as low as 5 to 10
minutes.
But typically you're getting akit that's gonna last you the
whole thing between 30 and 90minutes.
And that's generally more thansufficient for a lot of these
(08:00):
conditions we're dealing withbecause fortunately pets don't
get these kind of this chronicneed this long term need for
oxygen quite as much as humansdo, right?
For humans, you might be used toseeing, if grandma maybe has an
oxygen tank.
That she needs thatsupplementation 24/7 or
something like that.
Luckily that's less common inpets.
(08:22):
But what's more common is thiskind of quick need for oxygen.
It's acute need, and that's why,we do have options for the long
term.
These oxygen chambers that youwould put your pet in.
That's actually less common, andmost of the time you just need
this kind of like little boost.
It's almost like a rescueinhaler type of use case, and
that's what most pets need.
Dr. Sugerman (08:43):
What about the, the oxygen chambers?
So I've actually talked topeople who breed brachycephalic
dogs, again, so flat faced dogs.
That they use it for their,their little babies, the
neonates.
Blake Dubé (08:54):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That would be a good example ofwhen you might need, let's say,
hours of oxygen compared tominutes, and that's how we
differentiate these.
So some other use cases for thatis sometimes we'll get a dog
with pneumonia that is doingwell, at the hospital and they
don't necessarily need the 24/7attention vet care, but they do
(09:15):
need, let's say, 40 percentoxygen for the next two weeks or
so, and that can get reallydifficult as a burden, both on
the hospital and for the petowner, because that's very
expensive.
So for certain conditions whereyou don't need the 24/7 care,
but you really just need longerterm oxygen.
We will actually sell and/orrent an oxygen chamber which
(09:37):
kind of looks like a crate for adog, but it's meant to set at a
certain oxygen level, just likeyou would in the clinic.
And then we supply that with anoxygen concentrator or
generator.
And that is very similar tosomething you might see grandma
use at home, right?
So we still don't deal with anyof those high pressure tanks.
We stay away from that, butthese oxygen generators, what
(09:59):
they do is they take your roomair and they concentrate it and
purify it so that 99 percentoxygen, about, is coming out and
we'll fill the cage up with thatup to the recommended percentage
that your vet recommends.
And then you can potentiallygive some home oxygen care to
your pet instead of keeping themin the vet clinic for days and
(10:20):
weeks.
Dr. Sugerman (10:21):
Yeah.
And that's amazing.
We have lots of pets like thatwho have like pneumonia, I think
is the most common one wherethey need it for, for days.
But if we keep that pet inoxygen, that means the next pet
who needs oxygen, we don't havea tank for them so I think
that's a fantastic thing to beable to offer to them at home.
Blake Dubé (10:38):
Yeah, I think it's helped a lot of..
It's helped a lot of pet parentsget more comfortable with their
pets treatment.
And sometimes, sometimes it is apet's time, right?
For palliative care and thingslike that, that's another use
case that, it's sometimes hardto talk about, but we've, we've
helped a lot of pet parentsthat, they're in the hospital,
they're forced to make thisreally difficult decision.
(10:58):
They haven't gotten to saygoodbye.
Maybe they haven't had the kidsin to say goodbye or something
like that.
And we're bridging that gap forthe veterinarian and the pet
owner, to say, okay, how longwould you like this a week or
two weeks?
And, then they're able to bringtheir pet home with a reasonable
quality of life.
And I don't think anyone wouldargue that we want a pet living
in the oxygen chamber for monthson end or anything like that.
(11:21):
They either get better after acouple weeks or something like
that, and then, then you're outand you're good to go, or it's
that bridge to get comfortableand say goodbye.
And that's been one of thehardest, but really the most
rewarding parts of this businessis seeing how much we can
affect.
And, and improve that kind ofpalliative and end of life
experience for, for a certainpatient population.
(11:43):
This is by no means everyone we,we deal with, but it's, it's
definitely been nice to be ableto help out.
Dr. Sugerman (11:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
My last patient that I had rentone of the masks from you guys,
it unfortunately was a end oflife palliative care, type case,
and she was very anemic, meaningshe didn't have a lot of red
blood cells.
So she just needed a little bitof extra time for them to decide
whether this was going to be theright choice for them or not.
And so that definitely helpedgive them an extra two to three
(12:10):
weeks.
Blake Dubé (12:11):
Yeah.
And sometimes we're, we'rereally pleasantly surprised by
how much better a pet might doat home without the anxiety of
the veterinary clinic and thingslike that.
And, that, that type of product,the oxygen chamber and the
oxygen generator that is on aprescription.
So what we'll do is if you'reinterested in that you come to
us and we actually work withyour vet to say, is this right
(12:32):
for your pet?
Can they come out of 24/7 care?
What's the oxygen level they'redoing well at in the hospital
and can we replicate that athome?
So it is very much a likeholding your hand throughout the
whole process to make sure.
We're getting the best resultbecause, your vet knows your pet
the best and they need to beadvising on that.
Oftentimes, we're, we're mostlydealing with these oxygen kits
(12:54):
that are getting you over those,those scary humps or something
like that.
But, we deal with the wholespectrum.
So we say, when you need oxygen,come to us and we will find the
right thing for you.
Dr. Sugerman (13:04):
And so just to clarify, the mask, you don't
necessarily, and the smallercanisters, you don't necessarily
need to have a prescription for.
The generator, or the oxygenconcentrators, and the tanks are
usually the ones you do need aprescription for.
Is that correct?
Blake Dubé (13:16):
That's correct.
Yep.
Yep, exactly.
So yeah, the kits can just bepurchased right on our website.
And it's pretty easy to do and alot of times veterinarians will
have them in their clinic aswell because they want to have
them ready for it.
Sometimes when you need oxygen,you need it, you know,
yesterday.
Right?
Yeah, you're like, we need thisright now.
So it helps when veterinarianshave this, so they're ready to
(13:37):
send you out to the ER oroftentimes they will have them
and, be able to sell them to youas the client and say, Hey, take
this home.
But if they don't yet have themin their clinic, you can always
come to us and order it.
And then the oxygen chamber andoxygen generator, as you said,
that, that is on a prescription.
And a lot of times, onceveterinarians use us once,
they're familiar with ourservice.
(13:58):
We're their teammate in this.
So they'll even recommend us toother pet owners.
The goal is that it's not all onyou as a pet owner, as a pet
parent to figure out youroptions.
Cause that can be reallystressful.
It often happens at 2 a.m.
on a Saturday too.
It's always very stressful.
So our goal is, we're alwaysworking with vets to say, we're
(14:19):
here and you can help your petparents out by recommending us.
Dr. Sugerman (14:22):
I know we've talked a lot about dogs so far.
This works for dogs, cats, couldwork for small mammals,
everybody, right?
Blake Dubé (14:30):
Exactly.
We, we do, I would say likesmaller, smaller dogs are most
common because they tend to bethe ones with some of those
conditions I mentioned.
The heart failure, the collapsedtrachea, and things like that.
So we do mostly service smalldogs, but we have quite a lot of
cats, probably 10 percent of thepets we help out are cats and
feline asthma is probably the..
Dr. Sugerman (14:51):
Yes.
Blake Dubé (14:52):
biggest um, or I should say feline upper airway
disease often mischaracterizedas feline asthma.
But we help a lot, a lot ofcats.
And the first question we getis, how would a cat ever
tolerate
Dr. Sugerman (15:05):
It's amazing they do.
Blake Dubé (15:07):
And they do, right?
So it's funny if they don't needoxygen and you try to put this
on, they're not going to want tohave anything to do with it.
But they do have this responsewhere they understand something
from that mask.
It's helping them.
And it's often used in tandemwith an inhaler.
So if you have that felineasthma cat, you can open up the
airway with that inhaler andthen they can accept the oxygen
(15:28):
better.
So we use them both.
But we always do an end of yearwrap up where we show just all
the diverse species that we'vehelped out because it's, it's a
lot of dogs and cats, but wehave had goats, we've had a Gila
monster.
A lot of pocket pets, right?
Lots of pocket pets.
We've had a common pigeon thatsomeone had rescued.
Dr. Sugerman (15:47):
Aww.
Blake Dubé (15:48):
And they were, yeah, and we've actually been used in
the national aviary here inPittsburgh.
They've used it during theirfield checks, right?
Cause when, when birds haverespiratory distress, it's a
very serious event.
So they're using this to makesure they don't get too
stressed.
Dr. Sugerman (16:02):
That's amazing.
I feel like this can be used inso many aspects too, like zoo
medicine and all sorts ofthings.
Blake Dubé (16:09):
Oh, and it speaks to really how we started it and how
we've grown since then, becausewe just made it for the one use
case.
It was transporting dogs andcats from one hospital to the
other.
And it was really theveterinarians.
Once you put it in their hands,they are realizing all of these
different places they can useit.
So we get calls all the time of,I sent it home with this patient
(16:30):
and it did really, really well,or I was using it for this.
So it's really by us beingingrained with the veterinary
community and, and meeting allthese vets at these conferences,
it's helped us stay in touchthere and really learn like just
the true scope of what oxygen isneeded for in vet medicine,
which is a lot.
Dr. Sugerman (16:47):
A lot.
Yeah, exactly.
You were mentioning about themask too with cats.
When they have asthma, a lot oftimes they're already getting an
inhaler that's given through amask.
So a lot of those cats already,been conditioned to having a
mask on them luckily.
And even then, like we talk alot about how to help condition
them when they aren't used tothat by putting catnip in it or
(17:09):
treats or something that smellsreally good in it too.
Blake Dubé (17:13):
Yeah, that's a great point.
We have a lot of tips on treattraining and things like that.
Sometimes it's as simple as,especially for dogs, you know
pulling the mask out when youget it and putting it near your
face like this is safe for me soit's safe for you.
And then we go into some treattraining tips and stuff like
that because of course weoccasionally have dogs that are
a little more sensitive tothings around their face, but
(17:35):
really we've been amazed withjust like how great the
compliance has been with this.
We thought it would be thehardest thing.
So sometimes that's why peoplethink, maybe I'll get an oxygen
chamber because I'm not sure mydog or cat will accept a mask.
And that's a great option.
But often we say, hey, try theoxygen kit first.
(17:56):
We're never trying to sell yousomething you don't need, right?
It's just what your pet needs.
And we often have a lot of greatresults there too.
Dr. Sugerman (18:03):
For your oxygen chambers, how do you do with the
humidity in there when they'rein there?
Blake Dubé (18:09):
That's a great question.
So we find that, yeah, the heat,the humidity and then the carbon
dioxide that your pet isexhaling are all things that
could become a potentialproblem.
And that's why whenever someonesays I'm going to just take a
storage container and pumpoxygen into it, like a box, we'd
say, no, no, no, no, you'redoing, you're doing more harm
than good.
So how our, how our oxygenchamber works is it has
(18:32):
something called this Venturisystem that the oxygen goes
through to get into the cage.
And what that does is itbasically as the oxygen goes
through it, it sucks in extraroom air.
In order to dilute the oxygenconcentration, because your vet
is probably going to recommend,40 to 60 percent oxygen in the
chamber.
(18:52):
What you don't want is 100percent oxygen for that long of
a duration, right?
That can be dangerous in itself.
You could be looking at oxygentoxicity there.
So how we do that is we dilutethe incoming oxygen stream with
extra room air to get down tothat, let's say, 40%.
And what that does is multiplythe overall airflow.
(19:14):
So you're having a lot of airexchange in that cage.
So to answer your question, it'sessentially air exchange.
We're making sure that a lot ofair is coming in and out of that
cage, which is going to dealwith the CO2, the heat and the
humidity, and that's going to bereally hard to do with any other
kind of box or crate orsomething like that.
(19:35):
That, that's why your oxygenchamber at the vet can be very,
very expensive because it'sactually a very complicated
piece of machinery.
Dr. Sugerman (19:42):
Yeah, we used to so long, long time ago when I
was a technician, we didn'treally have oxygen cages and we
would just put saran wrap aroundthe cage doors, yes.
But that was terrible becauseone, we couldn't get a lot of
oxygen in, but two, it also justheated up that, that metal cage
so quickly.
Blake Dubé (20:01):
Yeah.
It's amazing to see how hot itwill get in there without the
proper oxygen flow rate orsomething like that.
We even have, ice packs you canput in and things like that.
But basically what we say is, ifyou're following our
recommendations and you get theright size chamber and you put
the right flow rate of oxygenin, it's going to be totally
safe.
We make it so it's very easy todo at home.
(20:23):
But you just have to have theright equipment to, to do it.
Dr. Sugerman (20:26):
Absolutely.
Blake Dubé (20:28):
Yeah, we've had a lot of good results though with
it.
And it's been, like I said,really, that's been a rewarding
part where you, that's just apet in an oxygen chamber is
stressful for both yourveterinarian and your pet
parent.
So if we can, if we can have apatient where it's appropriate
to do that at home, it's reallya win win situation.
Dr. Sugerman (20:44):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Like I said, we, we use it allthe time at our clinic.
We use, I talk to people aboutit all the time just because we
want to make sure that they'reas comfortable as possible.
Especially if that means thatthey're at home.
Blake Dubé (20:56):
Exactly.
Dr. Sugerman (20:58):
Is there anything else that you wanted to share
with us Blake?
Blake Dubé (21:00):
Yeah, so actually one thing that kind of also
speaks to just like thediversity of how this is used is
we actually just went to afirefighter conference because
we, we had realized how many ofour oxygen masks were being
bought and shipped right to firedepartments.
And, yeah, so basically whathappens is a lot, a lot more
(21:21):
pets are rescued from housefires than people because
there's a person you just walkout or maybe you're at work and
the fire happens while you're atwork, pet gets scared and goes
to their hiding place or theycan't get out of the house.
And they're more susceptible tosmoke inhalation because they're
smaller.
We're really working onequipping these fire departments
(21:41):
with the right tools to giveoxygen and save these pets.
And the response has been justreally, really great.
These are now in the hands of acouple thousand fire departments
and it's helped save a lot ofpets lives.
Dr. Sugerman (21:53):
That's amazing.
We actually do have a lot ofpeople or a lot of firefighters
that do bring pets into ourclinic as well.
And, but I usually see them justwith a regular mask on the pet,
which is, definitely verydifficult to get that.
Like it just, it just doesn'tfit.
Blake Dubé (22:08):
Exactly.
Yeah.
And they're like trying to makesomething work or they're,
taking a mask that should be foranother person and using for
that.
So yeah, and the response hasjust been great because fire
departments, these, thesefirefighters are often, they're
the first responders.
They need to be equipped to dothis.
And so we've been doing a lot oftrainings on that, too.
Dr. Sugerman (22:27):
Very cool.
With that little canister thatyou have right there, is that
full?
Blake Dubé (22:31):
Yeah.
It is.
Yep.
Dr. Sugerman (22:33):
So I saw you very easily take off the concentrator
on it, which I thought wasamazing, because you can tell,
obviously lots of people, again,like you said, get very nervous
about it.
It just snaps on, snaps off.
There's no sound to it after youtook it off.
Blake Dubé (22:49):
Yep, exactly.
And that that is truly it'seither.
That's why the flow rate isalready set on this little
regulator.
And so you're just going to getthe right one.
It's going to work out of thebox.
And we say it's either in andit's working.
You can hear it coming out orit's off, and it's not working,
right?
And there's a little gauge onhere also that just shows you as
it's emptying, when it gets tored, it's empty.
(23:11):
And if you ever forgot anyinstructions when you get it,
all of them are right on theback of the canister as well.
Because there's really onlythree instructions, right?
How to put this in and twist andstart the flow.
Really made it so that, whenyou're having an event like
this, it will be stressful,right?
No matter how much you prep forsomething, you're just, it's
going to be a little harebrainedand you're going to be very
stressed.
(23:32):
So we don't want this to be partof your stress, right?
It's just going to work rightout of the box.
And then these are actuallyreally nice.
These just get recycled, thecanisters just get recycled in
your home recycling bin whenthey're empty.
So then if you need more, onceyou run out, you can always call
us and we'll send you more.
But it just means you don't haveto worry about sending something
(23:52):
back to get refilled orreturning it to your vet.
It's just very easy.
Dr. Sugerman (23:57):
That's amazing.
You're talking about contactingyou guys as well.
I know I, I found before in thepast, it's super easy to call
you and email you.
It seems like you guys are soquick to respond.
Blake Dubé (24:09):
Yeah.
i'm really glad you say thatbecause that's probably One of
our prouder qualities is we, werealized like right at the
beginning that like, we need to,we're, we're your partner in
this, and it's our job that whenyou call in and you get a human
who cares about your pet almostas much as you do.
Right outside my door, we haveour customer success team, which
(24:30):
is three wonderful people, allof whom who have worked with
animals in the past.
And they are literally, if you.
If you don't feel comfortablewith what you're looking at
online, you can call them andthey'll walk you through it
right on the phone.
They'll do everything for you.
And we just realized that's,that's an especially important
part of this journey becauseoftentimes.
(24:52):
When you're getting veterinarycare, it is, you are in the dark
sometimes through no fault ofthe vet, right?
You're just, you want to knowmore, you're confused.
So we can take that and we canreally work with you.
So I, I do encourage people, ifyou have questions about this,
call or email in and you'll seehow we work with you.
Dr. Sugerman (25:10):
And a lot of times it's not even that the fact that
us as veterinarians aren't ableto talk to them or anything.
We, there's some people justdon't know about these things,
they don't know about theproducts that are being made and
all these really coolinnovations that are being, that
are coming out.
Blake Dubé (25:23):
Oh, exactly.
Yeah, I know.
And, and especially the, theone, one thing that we like to
try to help with, with theoxygen chambers and the oxygen
generators is, that can be areally difficult situation
that's happening at, let's sayreally late at night in the ER
and your ER vet might've worked14 hours and they might have be
actually required to go home anda new vet might be required to
(25:45):
take up your case because ifthey work so hard and they need,
they need a break.
So hopefully we can, that'swhere we are there to work with
them because we've probablyworked with your vet before and
they're familiar with us.
And we can be that extension andreally work you through this.
So we really say we are apartner to the veterinarian.
So that we can help their petparent just as much as they
(26:06):
would.
Dr. Sugerman (26:07):
Absolutely, and I am the overnight vet.
Blake Dubé (26:09):
Oh,
Dr. Sugerman (26:09):
yeah, I get that, but I, luckily so far all my
cases I've been able to contactsomebody during the day.
I've not needed it at 2am, but,
Blake Dubé (26:18):
That's yeah, you're not the one calling trying to
call grandma's oxygen supplier 2a.m.
and getting laughed out of thedoor.
It's, it's, we've heard all ofthose stories, right?
So I'm, I'm very glad that, youknow about us and you've had
success working with us too.
Dr. Sugerman (26:33):
yeah, absolutely.
Anything else that you wanted toshare with us, Blake?
Blake Dubé (26:36):
No, I don't think so.
I just really appreciate youhaving me on.
We really love any opportunityto talk with our, our pet
parents and our vets who havereally made us, or they put us
where we're at right now,especially our vets, right?
We wouldn't be here if we didn'thave them recommending our
products and really teaching usall these amazing ways to use
it.
Dr. Sugerman (26:54):
Or just having that one veterinarian who asked
you for a solution?
Blake Dubé (26:57):
Yeah.
Oh, exactly.
No, that's, that's huge.
Yeah.
Dr. Sugerman (27:01):
So I always ask a question at the end of my
interviews here.
So I want to know, do you haveany pets?
Blake Dubé (27:08):
Ah, that's a great question.
So personally, this alwaysshocks people.
I do not have a pet right now.
My business partner, Mark hasTucker, the golden retriever.
And actually, I can show you, heis featured on our large dog
kit.
Dr. Sugerman (27:24):
Aww, cute.
Blake Dubé (27:25):
Yep.
Yep.
Tucker is our, is our officedog, you could say, who comes in
every single day.
And yeah, what I look forward tois when I don't have to travel
to so many veterinaryconferences, I think we'd be
getting a dog.
Yes.
Dr. Sugerman (27:38):
Nice.
You should at least considerlike a goldfish or a reptile or
something.
Blake Dubé (27:42):
Oh, that would be a, you know what?
You're right.
A little less, a little lesscare involved.
That'd be awesome.
Or a cat.
I think.
Dr. Sugerman (27:48):
Or a cat.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
All right.
Thank you, Blake.
I appreciate this so much thatyou've come on to talk to us.
I hope that this will help a lotmore pet parents to be able to
find you guys.
Blake Dubé (27:58):
Awesome.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Dr. Sugerman (28:00):
Absolutely, and thank you everybody for tuning
in, make sure to keep your petshappy, healthy, and safe.
Thanks guys.
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