Three holistic practitioners will transition from selling veterinary services to peddling pet products when they staff their companies’ booths at Global Pet Expo. Tennessee veterinarians Marc Smith, DVM, CVA, CVTP, and Casey Damron, DVM, CVA, co-own Pet-Tao, which makes a prescription food line based on the principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVM). Ohio veterinarian Pamela Fisher, DVM, is the force behind Calm My Pet, a collection of products that includes therapeutic music and aromatherapy. The companies will be among about 1,000 exhibitors looking to do business with industry buyers attending Global Pet Expo. North America’s largest pet products trade show will take place March 4 to 6 in Orlando, Fla. Dr. Smith is the founder of Natchez Trace Veterinary Services in Nashville, Tenn., while Dr. Damron owns White Oak Animal Hospital in Fairview, Tenn. They started Pet-Tao in 2010 and today offer canned food for dogs and cats as well as freeze-dried treats. The company’s Harmony diets will be released at Global Pet Expo as stock for retailers. The three-year-old prescription line, called Solutions, is sold only through veterinarians and selected stores. Pet-Tao markets the Solutions line as food formulated to attain “balance or harmony within the body.” Separate recipes go by the names Blaze, Chill and Zing. Beef, chicken liver, beef heart and beef liver are the primary protein sources in Zing, which spokeswoman April Fletchall said is intended “to support the fluid component of the body.” “The Blaze diet is formulated with warming ingredients [and] Chill with cooling ingredients,” she added. “In TCM terms, Blaze tonifies the Qi component of the body, Chill tonifies the Yin component of the body and Zing supports the Blood component.” Like Pet-Tao, Calm My Pet will set up for the first time at Global Pet Expo. Dr. Fisher, who treats pets at Holistic Veterinary Practice in North Canton, Ohio, will display a variety of calming products. They include the Emotional Essences line—Calm My Dog, Calm My Cat and Calm My Stress—organic aromatherapy, a therapeutic music CD, and the Calm My Pet ceramic and gemstone pendant. “I have been using these products in my practice with amazing results,” Fisher said. She also is the founder of the Rescue Animal MP3 Project, a nonprofit group that donates calming music to animal shelters across the United States.
